Shadow of the Dragon Lords
by D. G. D. Davidson
Summary: What's the real reason Spike the dragon lives in Equestria? He's a political hostage! When a visit from the dragons' ambassador and a series of gruesome murders rekindle old grudges, only Princess Luna can end the ancient conflict once and for all.
1. Chapter 1:  The Dark Princess

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 1: The Dark Princess**

It was Nightmare Night again, and Princess Luna returned to Ponyville to participate in the celebrations. She intended in the future to visit a different community each year, but the year previous, she had made a promise to revisit Ponyville, and this year, she kept it.

Knowing they were to have a visit from royalty, the Ponyvillains spent a full month in preparation, so this Nightmare Night festival was the biggest and most elaborate the small town had ever known. Everypony spent extra time and care on his costume, and Rarity, who annually turned her dress shop into a costume shop, found herself with a massive number of orders for outlandish clothing. The Cakes, and occasionally Pinkie Pie, slaved away for days at Sugarcube Corner, preparing pumpkin cupcakes, spun sugar cobwebs, edible chocolate bats, and other treats. The Apple family opened its private cellar and rolled out the best barrels of their special October cider spiced with cinnamon and clove. Mayor Mare even called an official town meeting to assign workers to the booths, prepare decorations, and plan the carnival games. Twilight Sparkle, having lived for years in Canterlot under the tutelage of Princess Celestia, was assumed by most Ponyvillains to be familiar with the niceties of the court, so she received the task of heading the formal greeting party that would welcome the princess when she arrived. Although she in reality knew nothing of courtly manners, having spent all her time in Canterlot with her muzzle firmly planted in a book, Twilight took this task readily, being fully aware that she was just about the only pony in town who didn't find Luna intimidating.

Nightmare Night was always frightening, at least in an entertaining way, but this year it had the extra bite of genuine terror: a few days before the festivity began, news arrived at Ponyville that a number of Unicorns in frontier or border towns, particularly Apple-loosa, Dodge Junction, and Coltston, had been found dead with their horns ripped out. The perpetrators of these gruesome crimes had not been identified, but- perhaps because the atrocities happened so close to Nightmare Night- some suspected Princess Luna was to blame, and a few even suggested that the ancient cult of Witch-Ponies, though it had been extinct for a millennium, had arisen again to practice unspeakable rites. Though Nightmare Night was traditionally an opportunity for children to roam the town and demand sweets, because of the crimes, and because Princess Luna had promised to make a personal appearance, some ponies decided to keep their colts and fillies at home; many did not trust the princess who had formerly been Night Mare Moon, and many did not like the idea of their children wandering door to door when murderers were on the loose.

Because of the royal visit, the mayor tasked the Pegasus Ponies with keeping the sky free of clouds so that the Princess of the Night would not be dishonored by an obscured moon. Rainbow Dash argued that Luna wreaked havoc on weather patterns wherever she went, so it mattered little what the Pegasi did with the clouds, but the mayor, who grew increasingly stressed and snappish as Nightmare Night and the royal visit approached, replied that the princess could do what she liked with the weather, but that was no excuse for the Pegasi to slack off.

Mayor Mare was in fact so stressed that she felt it necessary to assign every Pegasus to cloud detail, and that led to an argument with Fluttershy, who had no intention of setting hoof outside her cottage on the frightful Nightmare Night. When the Mayor ordered her in no uncertain terms to assist the other Pegasi, she was so terrified by the prospect that she even went so far as to stare the mayor down. By that means, of course, she got her way and was free to hole up at home on the most horrible night of the year: the mayor decided that, however scary Princess Luna might be, Fluttershy was undeniably scarier.

The anticipated night arrived. As the sun set, children in costumes shrieked and laughed and trotted from house to house. Young Pipsqueak, having been a pirate the previous year, dressed as a ninja, and several fillies had chosen to dress up as Mare Do Well. Pinkie Pie, still insisting she was not too old for door-to-door candy begging, dressed as a cow.

After the sky had turned dark and the stars had come out, everypony gathered in Town Square for the festival, and Luna's black chariot, drawn by her bat-winged Pegasi, flew out of the moon. Just as Rainbow Dash had predicted, angry storm clouds and flashes of lightning accompanied Luna's arrival, rolling over the town in powerful waves, and deafening peals of thunder left everypony stunned. When the chariot pulled up above Town Square, Luna leapt from it and spread her great wings. Her eyes glowing with white fire, she dropped to the ground; her hooves cracked the cobbles when she landed, and she announced in a booming voice accompanied by a sharp gust of wind, "Citizens of Ponyville, your Princess of the Night hath returned!"

Everypony hit the ground, and Twilight forgot whatever it was she was supposed to say by way of formal greeting. Luna had discovered the year previous that ponies enjoyed being spooked on Nightmare Night, but this year she had outdone herself.

As was tradition, the fillies and colts- and Pinkie Pie- went in a group to the edge of the Everfree Forest where a statue of Night Mare Moon stood. As she had the year before, Zecora the zebra, even though the local traditions were foreign to her, took up the task of telling the children the legend of Night Mare Moon, who annually roamed forth on this night to gobble up young ponies. But this year, Zecora had Night Mare Moon herself, in the flesh, to serve as a visual aid. Some of the children found Luna genuinely frightening, and when Zecora had finished her tale, they were too scared to approach her and make the traditional offering of some of their candy, but after Pipsqueak eagerly ran up to her and tossed some of his goodies at her hooves, the others nervously joined in.

The farmers had worked together to create a corn maze in a field just outside the town, and that maze became the focus of the evening's main event. Zecora led the children to the maze's entrance and gave them their instructions:

"In this maze of corn will Night Mare Moon abide,

"For its many twists and turns give place to hide.

"Into this maze, my little ponies I will send,

"And they must find their way unto its other end.

"If Night Mare Moon should catch you on the way,

"You must make her an offering, lest you she slay:

"From your bags, give her some candy she might chew,

"Or in her fearsome wrath she'll gobble you!"

Transforming herself into mist, Luna slipped into the labyrinth and then returned to her normal form somewhere in its middle. Teeth chattering and legs quaking, the children entered and crept along, hoping to make their way to the exit unnoticed.

The adults waiting outside the maze soon heard squeals and shrieks coming from within. Pinkie Pie was the loudest, mixing her screams with a good deal of cattle-like lowing.

After Luna caught them the first time, the children scattered, and most of them found themselves navigating the maze alone, which was much more frightening than doing it in a group. Luna made liberal use of her shapeshifting abilities, moving stealthily from one place to another and jumping out at the children, who screamed at the top of their lungs, dropped candy, and galloped away like mad.

Adult Pegasus Ponies hovered over the maze; whenever Luna successfully grabbed a filly or colt, a Pegasus would swoop down, scoop the child up, and take him outside where he received a consolation prize- a small bag of gumdrops from Sugarcube Corner.

Rainbow Dash was in charge of the Pegasi monitoring the maze. Unfortunately, Derpy Hooves and Ditzy Doo were both on maze duty as well, and for reasons known only to them, they began picking up children at random even when Luna hadn't caught them. Rainbow managed to put a stop to this, but then had to return to the maze a lot of angry fillies who threatened to cry for having been unjustly removed from the game.

The first to reach the exit successfully were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo had determined to stay together no matter what, hoping perhaps that they might thereby earn maze-navigation cutie marks. Scootaloo's speed and keen sense of direction proved invaluable: they ran into Luna three times, but each time they managed to escape after dropping a few lollypops in her path. Breathing hard, high on both sugar and adrenaline, they sped through the exit to the stomping applause of the adults and gave each other high hooves in congratulations. Applejack gave each of them the reward for completing the maze- a caramel apple coated in tiny sugar spiders. Between the three of them, they also shared the prize for first place, a small trampoline designed to look like a spider's web, which they agreed to keep at their clubhouse. But in spite of their success, their flanks remained stubbornly blank.

About half the children eventually made it out. Pinkie Pie, to her distress, ran into Luna over a dozen times and thus sacrificed the entire contents of her candy bag, but she gratefully accepted a caramel apple when she at last reached the exit.

Pipsqueak held the night's record for most encounters with- and most evasions of- the dark princess. He ran into Luna seventeen times and, thanks in part to his small size and in part to his darkly colored costume, managed to get away each time. He never reached the exit, however; when he was the last one still in the maze and was thoroughly lost, Rainbow Dash flew down and airlifted him out. Applejack still gave him a caramel apple.

The night continued with carnival games, singing, dancing, and laughing. Luna joined in, but was distressed that most of the ponies still gave her a wide berth. Even after she had spent half the night chasing them through the maze, all the children stood back and watched her with timid awe.

All, that is, except Pipsqueak. He stayed by her side the entire night, declaring again in his adorable Trottingham accent that she was his favorite princess. Twilight coaxed the other children to join him, reminding them that, in spite of her appearance, Luna was safe.

The time of the night ended. To the awe of the Ponyvillains, Luna rose into the air and, her mane of mist swirling about her head and her horn glowing with magic, lowered the moon. As soon as she did, the sky in the east turned purple and pink, a sign that, high in Canterlot, Princess Celestia was raising the sun.

As dawn approached, Luna's chariot returned. With a booming farewell, the dark princess rose to it and sped away.

Twilight Sparkle breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to the library. She was slightly irked that the sleepless night would inevitably result in a less productive day, and she decided to ask Owloysius to whip her up an extra pot of oat-flavored coffee. But as far as she could tell, Nightmare Night had gone off without a hitch, and she hoped that meant Luna was finally acclimating to modern Equestria after her thousand years' imprisonment.

While she flew home, standing in her chariot with her black traveling cloak concealing all of her face except her horn and her glowing eyes, Luna reflected. Aside from Nightmare Night, she had hardly left her chambers during the two years since the Elements of Harmony had stripped her of her dark powers and restored her conscience. During her millennium of entrapment, when envy still gnawed at her heart, she had imagined that Celestia, who had become Equestria's sole ruler, must have turned into a despot: she had supposed that when the stars at last aligned and broke open her prison, she would return to Equestria as a liberator, freeing the ponies from ten centuries of miserable debasement under an iron hoof. Having become evil herself, she could not imagine that Celestia's motives and intentions differed much from her own; she had guessed that Celestia refused to lower the sun, and that the ponies sweltered under its constant, blasting heat.

What she actually found, of course, was that Celestia had run the kingdom well. Equestria had known a millennium of peace, and every day the sun and moon rose and lowered on schedule. When Twilight Sparkle and her friends turned the Elements upon her and blasted the evil from her heart, Luna lost her illusions and her resentment, but she still had to face an undeniable fact: she was unnecessary. For a thousand years, Equestria and Celestia had gotten along fine without her.

Officially, Luna was once again coregent, just as she had been before her imprisonment. In reality, she had made no decrees, held no councils, visited no aristocrats. She had done little besides sit in her rooms and brood. Whenever she left her chambers, ponies looked at her in terror, knelt to the ground, and quaked.

All she had ever wanted was to be loved. It was that desire, growing like a canker in her heart, which turned her evil in the first place: she had become jealous of her older sister, who commanded not only the respect but also the most tender affections of her subjects. Now that Luna had been cleansed by Harmony, the evil was gone and the jealousy was muted, but the desire remained.

For the past year, she had eagerly awaited her return to Ponyville for Nightmare Night. She knew that there, at least, were some children who loved her. But now that she was heading home from the long-anticipated celebration, a stone of dissatisfaction sat in her stomach: they loved her, yes, but only because she agreed to spook them when they asked. She was the Princess of the Night who rode the storm, flew among the stars, and commanded the moon, but they had reduced her to an entertainer. Nopony showed Luna the genuine love and affection that everypony showed Celestia.

When her chariot reached the mist-shrouded cliffs where Canterlot Castle's white spires towered, Luna alighted and marched through the gates. The royal Pegasus guards lost their usual composure, ducked their heads, knelt, and shivered as she walked by. As she made her way through the castle halls, servants who saw her did the same. A few even turned and fled.

At last, she reached the refuge of her rooms. She closed the gilded double doors behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. She would spend the next day, perhaps the next several days, alone.

She was, after all, comfortable being alone. She had had a thousand years to get used to it.

**Next: Ambassador of the Dragons**


	2. Chapter 2:  Ambassador of the Dragons

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 2: Ambassador of the Dragons**

While Luna brooded, Princess Celestia entertained the most important guest Canterlot could receive: Severin, the official ambassador of the dragons.

Severin was not a dragon himself, but a member of the servant race that called the dragons masters. He was, at least to pony eyes, a monstrous and misshapen creature: bipedal and tall, with a dark mane atop his head and delicate, pinkish, nearly hairless skin, he wore heavy, uncomfortable-looking garments of blackened leather, some pieces of armor that were more decorative than functional, and a coarse cloak. Walking only on his hind legs, he had grotesque, short forelimbs ending in ugly but clever-looking appendages with five jointed digits, the tips of which were backed by thin, curved sheets of hardened epidermis like tiny hooves. The sight of him manipulating objects with these nimble little hooves could make a pony's skin crawl, but his most objectionable feature was undoubtedly his face: it was like a caricature of a pony's face, shortened and flattened until it had become monstrously ugly, with eyes too small and beady, a fleshy nose like an elongated pear, and a mouth that, instead of sitting at the end of a proper muzzle, looked like a gash made across his face by a knife. Surrounding this mouth were thin little lips that, in contrast to the rest of his skin, were red, almost like blood.

Severin's appearance would have been less objectionable if it were not accompanied by a sour smell, most of which seemed to emanate from his greasy, black mane.

Still, though nopony could find his company entirely pleasant, he was well mannered. He had neither the arrogance of a powerful politician nor the scraping obsequiousness that might be expected of a member of the race that had spent most of its existence under the dragons' cruel claws. He was refined without pomposity, polite without affectation. Most ponies who spent sufficient time in his presence grew to like him; they soon recognized that he couldn't help his appearance, and it was entirely possible he couldn't help his smell, either.

He had arrived at Canterlot's high gates early in the morning three days before, when the Canterlot Cliffs were shrouded in clouds and the rocks were wet with dew. Severin visited his homeland of Draconium only rarely; most of the year he spent journeying to the various lands with which the dragons did business. He had no entourage; so bound were the slaves to the dragons' will, his masters confidently sent Severin forth alone, knowing that he would always represent their desires to the peoples he visited. He had no armed escort, either, but traveled with only a staff in his hand and a saber at his belt. Since his earliest childhood, the dragons had trained him in numerous forms of combat, as any robbers who beset him on the road would inevitably learn to their detriment.

Upon his arrival, the Pegasus guards swiftly ushered him into Celestia's audience hall, where the princess sat in her high golden throne, from beneath of which flowed a constant stream of water. Early morning sunlight broke through the clouds outside and shone through the tall stained-glass windows, turning Celestia's white coat into a kaleidoscope of glowing colors. Severin knelt before her and made his formal greeting, praising the queen of the ponies who was mistress of the sun. She stepped down from her throne and gave him a gilded hoof to raise him up, but he took it and kissed it.

"It is good to see you again, Ambassador," Celestia said.

"Likewise, Your Highness," he answered.

They spent most of the morning walking together through the pleasure garden surrounding the palace. Severin's visits always followed certain unspoken rules: Celestia's conversation with Severin began as witty, courtly banter and only gradually moved to the subject of politics. When it did, they discussed first the affairs of lands that bordered on neither Equestria nor Draconium, but then they by degrees began to discuss issues more serious and closer to home. At the end of this long process, they would at last talk of the relations between their own two countries.

They reached this final stage after a few days, on the morning after Nightmare Night, while they were breaking fast. Severin's diet was entirely different from a pony's, but Celestia had prepared for his visit ahead of time, ordering the kitchen to produce breads, stewed fruits, cooked vegetables, and other foods she knew the ambassador could digest, and to refrain from serving hay or grass or other things she knew he couldn't. All his food was flavored, too, with imported spices nopony could stomach, but which Celestia knew would please Severin's palate.

As he had on the days previous, he complimented the repast, though deep in his heart, he was looking forward to journeying to other lands where he could eat meat and drink liquor, neither of which could be found in the whole of Equestria.

"We are honored that the ambassador so enjoys our humble table," Celestia said.

"Nonsense," Severin answered. "There is nothing humble about this feast, Your Highness. I spend much of my time traveling in the service of my masters, but it is Canterlot I most look forward to visiting, almost as if it were my second home."

"Be careful, Ambassador," Celestia replied. "In one of your stories is the tale of a man who must sit under a dangling sword for the sin of overpraising royalty."

"You honor me again, Your Highness. I am pleased that you have looked into the legends of my people. But I am servant of the dragons, am I not? I know what it means to sit under a dangling sword."

He tapped a set of his peculiar little digits on the tabletop and watched her. Amusement and a hint of uncharacteristic insolence sat in his eyes.

Servants quickly and quietly cleared the table, and the ambassador and princess put aside idle chatter for the less pleasant business to which they had been building.

"Excuse my abruptness, Your Highness, but I had expected to see the hostage by now. Where is he? Why has he not joined us at table?"

Celestia looked away from him, a hint of embarrassment passing over her equine features. "He is not in Canterlot."

"Please do not jest with me, Your Highness. Our treaty is quite clear, and to remove the hostage from your capitol would clearly violate it."

"The treaty is almost two millennia old, Ambassador."

"All the more reason it should be honored." Severin gestured to the lavish room around him. "I am well aware that, after you put your sister away, you relaxed the formalities that once characterized ponydom's high court. But the dragons are not so casual. Nor, in fact, are the dwarves, the demons, the fairies, the elves, the wyverns, the imps, the rock giants, the pixies, the lava monsters, the griffons, nor any of the other peoples I must visit. Only ponies are interested in tearing apart the dignities that separate nobles from common folk, and only ponies, I might add, are interested in violating ancient agreements."

"We no longer think of these hostages, as you call them, as hostages, Ambassador. They are honored guests. They are-"

"Then why do you still take them, Your Highness? Do you forget that the very ground on which this castle stands was once the abode of dragons? Do you forget that ponies, unprovoked, took it by force?" The hint of insolence entered his eyes again. "Of course you forget. You don't tell that part of the story in your little Hearth's Warming Eve plays, do you? You like to pretend this was empty land when you arrived."

"That was before my time, Severin."

"I am aware of that, and no doubt the invasion never would have occurred if you had reigned over the ponies then, but my masters do not care. Dragons have long lives and long memories. They are mortal, but some of them are older than you."

"If it were my choice, Ambassador, we would stop taking hostages from the dragons. But it is not my choice, precisely because the dragons insist on continuing to bear a grudge against ponyfolk two millennia after we wronged them and took their land. Still, after all this time, the threat of a draconic uprising looms over us, so still we regularly take the egg of a dragon lord to ensure continued peace. I, too, know what it means to sit under a dangling sword."

Severin sat back in his chair. "Where is the hostage, Your Highness?"

"Since he hatched, he has been the assistant of my personal protégé. A little over two years ago, she moved away from Canterlot. The two of them had grown quite attached to each other, so he went with her."

Severin stood from his chair and pushed it up to the table. "Then I must see him. Prepare me an escort."

"That will not be necessary. I will call him here to Canterlot."

"No, Your Highness. I must see where he lives. I must report to my masters on the conditions in which you keep him."

"Severin-"

"Do you deny that I am within my rights?"

Celestia thought for a moment. Finally, she closed her eyes and released a deep sigh. "You are within your rights, of course. I will give you an escort to Ponyville."

Severin bowed deeply. Celestia wondered how he could bend his body like that without falling over. "Have we further business this morning, Your Highness?" he asked.

"No official business, Ambassador. I can provide for your amusement until I have made the arrangements for your trip."

"That will not be necessary. I shall be in the splendid room you have provided until then."

Severin took his leave and left the hall.

Celestia immediately went to her chamber and wrote a letter to Twilight Sparkle: "Dearest Twilight, Ambassador Severin of the dragons, a member of their slave race, is coming to see Spike. Please show the ambassador every courtesy. Don't serve him grass, hay, or flowers. He can't eat them and will see them as an insult. Feed him cakes or fruit or things of that sort."

Celestia thought for a moment, remembering how Twilight and her friends had almost destroyed the royal ballroom during the Grand Galloping Gala, and how they had later crashed the Canterlot Garden Party. Celestia, who disliked the pomposity of formal parties, found those events amusing, but she knew Severin would have a different opinion. She continued: "He is very picky about formalities. Please be extremely polite to him and assure him that Spike is well treated. This visit is politically sensitive. I am counting on you. Sincerely, Princess Celestia. P.S., don't let Pinkie Pie near him."

She threw the letter into the fireplace, knowing that within moments Spike the dragon would be belching it in the library of Ponyville. After a moment's consideration, she wrote a second letter, markedly different in tone but only slightly different in content, to Ponyville's mayor.

That done, she thought about the best way to send Severin to Ponyville. It would look suspicious if Celestia accompanied him herself, but he would be insulted if she sent him with a mere servant. She could call on a prince of her family to go with him, perhaps, but the spoiled and egotistical Prince Blueblood was unfit for any sensitive political tasks, and Prince Shining Armor was away on business. Since Celestia was immortal, she had, naturally, accumulated more and more power to herself over the centuries, so Equestria no longer had a proper nobility, but the descendants of the ancient nobles still formed Canterlot's high society; she could perhaps call on a wealthy aristocrat to accompany Severin, but she wasn't sure she could count on any of them to have the skills to deal with an ambassador.

Then she hit on an idea and felt slightly ashamed that she hadn't thought of it first. She left her chamber and cantered down the hall: it was time she made a call on Luna.

**Next: The Princess's Protégé**


	3. Chapter 3:  The Princess's Protege

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 3: The Princess's Protégé**

While Celestia was having breakfast with Severin, Luna was pacing up and down in her rooms. Normally, being alone and aloof chafed at her only a little, but after the excitement, fun, and ultimate dissatisfaction of Nightmare Night, she was feeling her self-imposed isolation more keenly than usual, so she resolved to do something about it.

She reflected that it was Twilight Sparkle who had stripped her of her power as Night Mare Moon, and she remembered that Twilight was a student in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and not a student only, but Celestia's own protégé. Luna considered that Twilight's cutie mark was a field of stars and thought about what that might mean: her special talent appeared to be magic, but stars did not suggest magic necessarily . . .

What they suggested to Luna was power over the night. Twilight's name hinted at the same thing: she was student of the Princess of the Day, but with the Elements of Harmony she had conquered the Princess of the Night. She was Twilight, halfway between day and night, receiving strength from both. Perhaps that was why her magic was unusually potent for a mortal Unicorn. Perhaps that was why she was able to free Luna when she commanded Harmony, whereas Celestia, all those years before, had been able only to lock her away, much the way Luna and Celestia had together, earlier, used the same power to lock away the wicked monster Discord.

If these speculations had any merit, then it seemed to Luna that Twilight Sparkle should not be Celestia's student only. Her power could grow even greater if she also learned the darker secrets of magic, the mysterious weirds that grew from shadows, the spells a Unicorn could only cast in the deepest depths of night.

But then again, Celestia had founded the School for Gifted Unicorns herself, and it bore her name. Luna hesitated to interfere with it directly- or at least she hesitated to interfere with Celestia's hoof-selected student.

That gave her another idea. She trod from her room and cantered from hall to hall until she found a servant, a freckled young Unicorn stallion in a red coat and hat. He yelped when he saw her, fell to the ground, and shook.

"Servant," she said, "we desire that thou bringest to us the register of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."

The poor young stallion didn't budge. He merely covered his head with his forelegs and shivered.

"Didst thou not hear us, servant?" Luna demanded. "We have given thee an order, and it should be thy delight to serve us!" She stomped a hoof, and the marble floor cracked.

The stallion moaned, but still he showed no sign of rising. Luna watched him for a minute, and then finally sighed and said, "Fine. I'll find someone else."

Half an hour and six servants later, Luna was in her chambers again, poring over a stack of detailed files on the students of Celestia's school. She had to admit she was impressed by what she read; even though dark magic had gone out of use during her imprisonment, these Unicorns under Celestia's tutelage indeed showed great talent: there was Sharpwit, who had mastered all eleven forms of anamorphic conjuring, and Rosy Dawn, who had invented a new means of projecting spells over great distances. Twilight Sparkle's file was easily the most impressive of the lot; in particular, her skill at teleportation was unprecedented.

Only one student came close to rivaling Twilight's abilities, a Unicorn mare named Moondancer. Luna liked the name. The files included photos of each student's cutie mark, and Moondancer's proved to be a crescent moon accompanied by three stars.

That settled it for Luna. She strode from her chambers again to find another servant who would actually obey her rather than merely cower.

* * *

><p>Moondancer was attending a lecture on advanced levitation when a Unicorn from the palace rushed in, brushed past several other students, and whispered in her ear.<p>

The servant's whisper proved too loud, however, and several students gasped when they heard the name Luna. Many looked at Moondancer in apparent sympathy. In particular, Cloudchaser, who sat to her left, had tears in her eyes as she whinnied, "She'll eat you!"

Moondancer gave Cloudchaser a little smile, rose to her hooves, and tossed her head, flinging her wild, unkempt red mane. Most ponies might be afraid of Luna, but Moondancer was not one to be easily intimidated. She walked from the lecture hall with her muzzle in the air as the other students watched her in awe.

The servant led her through the wide, marble halls of Canterlot Castle until, bowing his head and walking backwards with an air of apology, he left her at the doors of Luna's suite.

Moondancer had expected the servant to open the doors for her, but he was apparently too timid for the task. Unsure if it conformed with proper etiquette, Moondancer pushed the doors open herself and walked inside.

The room was dark, and it took Moondancer's eyes a moment to adjust. She noticed first the walls covered in black drapes, like hangings from a particularly dreary funeral. High overhead, covering the room's domed ceiling, was a sheet of deep blue silk studded with exactly placed luminescent jewels that perfectly imitated the stars of the sky. The floor was of black and green marble, set into which was a great brass pentagram encircled by the signs of the Zodiac, in turn encircled by the emblem of the Worm Ouroboros, symbol of time and mortality. Around the great pentagram stood silver candlesticks seven feet high, holding enormous tallow candles guttering with blue flame and acrid smoke. As her eyes grew used to the dimness, Moondancer could see that not all the walls were draped: some held bookshelves full of thick, hidebound tomes. Many of the books' spines were blank, and some bore gilded titles in languages Moondancer couldn't read, yet those she could read suggested they were volumes of ancient and forbidden lore. In one wall was a niche in which stood a heavy desk of oak: on the desktop were roles of parchment, an inkstand, an astrolabe, and an Earth Pony's skull holding a mostly melted beeswax candle. Open on the desk was a book of enormous size. Its text, a foreign script made up of curved letters hanging from horizontal bars, was unreadable to Moondancer, but the right-hoof page contained a large woodcut illustration that made her heart pound: it depicted a midnight debauch of the ancient Witch-Ponies; with vicious grins and wrinkled bodies, hundreds of ponies rode beneath a full moon on broomsticks and elder twigs, while in the foreground below, others stirred a cauldron full of young foals being boiled alive.

At the far end of the room, Princess Luna herself lounged amongst embroidered pillows on a daybed flanked by two silver censers smoking with olibanum. Over her head was a canopy of the same blue silk that covered the domed ceiling. Mounted on the wall behind the bed was an enormous, finely detailed image of the moon, artfully contrived so that its glow matched the real moon's phase: right now, on the day after Nightmare Night, it was waxing, but still almost full, and tinted orange- the color of the harvest.

When she reached the center of this great chamber, Moondancer knelt.

Luna watched her. Moondancer, she saw, was a young mare, barely more than a filly. Her coat was pure white, her eyes were violet, and her wild and tousled mane was bright red. Though she knelt before her princess with appropriate reverence, she did not tremble.

"Rise," Luna said, "and approach us."

Moondancer did as she was told. Again, Luna noted that she didn't shiver, and she had confidence rather than fear on her face. Moondancer walked to Luna and stood before her, waiting.

"Moondancer," Luna said, "we have looked upon thy grade reports and marked the progress of thine education. Thou art an exceptional student."

"I am," Moondancer answered. An easy grin formed on her mouth.

Luna paused a moment, nonplussed. Was Moondancer being insolent, or was this merely another example of the relaxed manners of modern Canterlot?

"Thine abilities almost approach those of Twilight Sparkle," Luna said.

Moondancer's eyes narrowed and she tapped a hoof against the marble floor. "Twilight Sparkle," she said. The way she pronounced the name indicated obvious distaste. Her grin, however, hadn't budged. "Give me time, Your Highness, and I'll be even better."

"We have considered the matter," said Luna, "and we desire that thou become for us a personal protégé, and learn under us, in addition to thy regular studies. We have much to teach thee of the magic of the night, and we believe thou hast the skill our lessons demand."

Behind the carefree smile, Moondancer's mind whirled. Tutored by Princess Luna! The former Night Mare Moon! Dark magic, unseen in Canterlot for a millennium! At last, Moondancer's skill was being recognized, at last her patience was being rewarded. At last, her time of living in the shadow of that prissy goody four-shoes of a bookworm, Twilight Sparkle, was coming to an end. When Moondancer learned Luna's magic, she had no doubt she would finally prove to Celestia, and to Celestia's obnoxious, nerdy little favorite, who was really the most talented Unicorn in Equestria. This was greater than her greatest dream come true. Again, her eyes moved to the black books on the shadowy shelves, but now she looked at them with naked greed. Soon, their contents would be hers, and she would put Twilight Sparkle, who in spite of her awesome skills knew only the light magic of the day, in her place.

Moondancer bowed her head to the ground. "I would be honored to be your student, my princess." She took one of Luna's hooves and kissed it.

The princess smiled down at her new protégé. At last, Luna would prove to Celestia that she really could be useful.

**Next: An Envoy to Ponyville**


	4. Chapter 4: An Envoy to Ponyville

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 4: An Envoy to Ponyville**

Princess Luna and Moondancer were standing together at the desk, where by flickering candlelight Luna was explaining the cipher in which many of her books were written, when a timid knock came at the door.

"Enter," Luna called.

Trembling from horn to hoof, the same Unicorn servant she had earlier found in the hall walked into the room. Shaking so badly he looked as if he might break himself into pieces, he stammered, "P-p-p-p-p-"

"What is it?" Luna demanded. "Speak!"

The servant hit the floor and covered his head again.

Luna sighed.

Moondancer walked over to the servant and nudged him. "Hey, Hopkart, what is it?"

Hopkart opened his eyes and peeked up at her. "Moondancer?" he asked. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood. "Princess Celestia wants to see . . . to see . . ." He blanched and began stammering again. "To see P-p-p-p-p-p-"

"Princess Luna?" Moondancer asked.

Hopkart nodded miserably.

Luna was scowling over the books and parchments on her desk, refusing to look at the servant who was so annoying her. "Let our sister enter," she said. "Her Highness is always welcome in our chambers."

Hopkart backed out of the room as quickly as he could, and a moment later Celestia trotted in. Her luminescent mane of rainbow mist brought an alien light into the dark room; by means of it, Moondancer could now see that many of the chamber's outré decorations were dusty, frayed, and spotted with age. A moment before, the gloom had seemed to hide dark and wonderful secrets, but as soon as Celestia walked in and some of the gloom dissipated, the room appeared to contain nothing but a lurid shabbiness, like an amusement park's haunted house ride.

Luna turned from her desk, bowed her head, and nickered. Moondancer knelt.

Celestia glanced at Moondancer and started. "Moondancer, I thought you were in class."

"I was, Your Highness," Moondancer answered, "but Her Highness, Princess Luna, called me here."

"What does the princess of all the land desire in our humble rooms?" Luna asked.

Celestia frowned at this formality. "You are as much a princess as I," she answered.

"Some would dispute it," Luna said. "What does Equestria wish of us?"

Celestia watched Luna and thought; usually, Luna used most of her archaisms only with subjects, but perhaps she was maintaining them now because Moondancer was present. Celestia could not help but detect veiled insult under the formalities, however; to address Celestia as if she were sole ruler, and to identify her personally with all Equestria, suggested that Luna was displeased.

"Moondancer," Celestia said, "why don't you return to class? My sister and I need to talk."

"She stays," Luna answered. "She is to be our protégé." Luna stared Celestia in the eye. "Will that be a problem?"

Celestia smiled. "Of course not. I'm pleased to know you're taking interest in the students. But I have a favor to ask you, of a delicate political nature."

"How may we be of service to Her Highness?"

"The ambassador from Draconium has arrived, and he wishes to see Spike, the hostage. He is upset that I allowed Spike to go to Ponyville with Twilight Sparkle. Somepony needs to take him to Ponyville, somepony who knows how to handle him."

Luna nodded. "And Her Highness believes that we-"

"Oh, Luna, please!" Celestia cried, losing her patience. "Nopony has talked like that for five hundred years at least, and I know you're doing it on purpose!" Celestia flushed slightly and glanced at Moondancer. Though she disliked courtly formalities, that was no excuse for showing anger at her sister in front of a student.

"Five hundred years ago, I was trapped in the moon," Luna said calmly. "I could pay no attention to alterations in manners. I will go to Ponyville for you, but I would like my protégé to accompany me."

"That's fine," Celestia answered. "I'll let her professors know, and they'll excuse her from her classes for the rest of the week." She thought a moment. "As for the ambassador, your old-fashioned manners will appeal to him. He is versed in the ancient customs that once held between draconic slaves and ponies, and he chafes at their disuse."

Luna smiled and reverted to her formal speech. "We shall show him all the traditional honors."

"Good. It may incline him to be less annoyed that Spike is not in Canterlot. I would like, if possible, to avoid forcing Spike or Twilight to come back here."

"We shall wheedle him. Subtly, of course."

"Thank you, Luna." Celestia kissed her sister on the cheek, nodded to Moondancer, and left the room.

As Celestia trotted back to her audience chamber, she felt as if a great weight had lifted from her withers. Luna might have trouble dealing with modern ponies, but she should have no difficulty dealing with the ambassador, as Luna had often interacted with the dragons' emissaries before she became Night Mare Moon. Not only was she the best possible choice for placating Severin, but this mission would at last get her out of her rooms and involved in running the kingdom again. Plus, it was a mission taking her only to Ponyville, which she had visited twice already, so her appearance there should not be too frightening to the citizens.

* * *

><p>In Ponyville, when Princess Celestia's hastily written letter arrived, Twilight Sparkle was, as usual, in her library researching. Her latest assignment, sent by post from the department chair of Applied Alchemy, involved a study of the reactions of several metals to liquefied rainbow. Twilight was well aware that her paper on the subject would be incorporated, probably without attribution, into the department chair's forthcoming monograph, but she resented it only a little: such was the plight of students, especially talented ones.<p>

With the help of her pet and junior assistant Owloysius, Twilight had already acquired powdered or shaven samples of the metals she would need for her experiments, and she had them neatly laid out on her desk, along with a selection of flasks sorted by size, above which Owloysius sat regally on his perch. All Twilight needed now was the rainbow.

Rainbow Dash, holding a jar full of swirling colors, flew through the front door. "This what you asked for?"

"Hoo," Owloysius said.

"Who?" Rainbow asked. "Twilight. She said she needed some liquefied rainbow."

Twilight nickered a greeting. "That's perfect," she said, using magic to take the jar from Rainbow's hooves and bring it to the desk.

Rainbow hovered over Twilight, grinned, and rubbed her front hooves together. "Now, for my payment-"

"Of course." Twilight magicked a book from a shelf and sent it flying Rainbow's way. Some time ago, Rainbow Dash had discovered a taste for adventure fiction; having devoured all the Daring Do novels, and having recently completed Solomon Mane, Pegasus Adventurer, she was looking for something new to read. "Here," Twilight said. "Coltan the Canterian. I think you'll really like this one."

Grabbing the book out of the air, Rainbow nodded in approval at its cover art, which depicted a muscle-bound bay Earth Pony leaning one foreleg on an enormous sword while a svelte white Unicorn mare languished at his hooves. "Oh yeah, this oughta be good."

Spike, who had been sleeping late after the festivities of Nightmare Night, stumbled down from the bedroom upstairs. His cheeks were puffed out, and he was holding a hand to his mouth.

"Good morning, Spike," Twilight said. "You are about to witness a first-of-its-kind experiment in the reactive properties of-"

Spike belched a green flame, out of which burst a scroll. He snatched it from the air, unrolled it, and scanned it quickly.

"A letter from the princess?" Twilight asked. "What does it say?"

Spike started in surprise and nearly dropped it. Speechless, he simply held the letter out to Twilight instead of reading it aloud. She magicked it from his claws and held it before her face.

She started as well and dropped the letter to the floor. "Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no! He's coming here? What do we do, Spike?"

Spike scratched his head and shrugged.

Fluttershy poked her nose around the corner of the open front door. "Twilight?" she said. "Rarity and I were going to the spa this afternoon, and she said I should ask you if- oh!" Fluttershy noticed the shocked looks on Twilight and Spike's faces. "Is now a bad time? I can come back if now's a bad time."

"What's the big deal?" Rainbow asked.

"The dragons' ambassador!" Twilight shouted. "He's coming to Ponyville to see Spike! Do you know what this means?"

Fluttershy cringed, her eyes growing wide as saucers. "A d-d-dragon? Coming here?"

"Hoo," Owloysius said.

"Who?" Twilight asked incredulously. "Ambassador Severin of Draconium, that's who! Oh, this is awful!" She started pacing. "What if he hates Ponyville? What if somepony does something the ambassador doesn't like? It could be an international incident! He'll complain to the dragons, and they'll start a war!"

"Ah, c'mon, Twilight," Spike said. "There's not gonna be a war. Equestria hasn't had a war for, what, two thousand years?"

Twilight magicked A Short History of Ponydom from a shelf, brought it to her reading stand, and flipped it open. After reading the section she wanted, she made a swift mental calculation. "One thousand, eight hundred, and fifty-two years, to be exact."

"Right," said Spike. "That's, uh, what I meant."

"Hoo," said Owloysius.

Fluttershy cringed, quivering. "Oh! A dragon! In Ponyville! This is terrible! This is awful! This is . . . unsettling."

Rainbow Dash landed, folded her wings, and rolled her eyes. "Right. Because there's never been, like, a dragon in Ponyville before. So since when do dragons have political ambassadors, anyway? I thought they just sat in caves on piles of gold or something."

"Hey," Spike said.

"Most do, but Severin's not a dragon," Twilight answered, pulling the Encyclopaedia Draconica from the ethnography section. "The dragons of Draconium are different from most. They're more civilized, they're ruled by the seven dragon lords, and they have a special race of slaves who do their bidding. Hmm . . ." She flipped through the encyclopedia, frowning. "There's nothing under slaves, or servants, or minions. What is their slave race called? I can't remember. Spike?"

"He's not a dragon?" Fluttershy asked hopefully.

Spike held up his claws and shook his head. "Hey, I've been in Equestria since I was hatched, remember? Don't ask me about Draconium."

"Whoa!" Rainbow said. "You're from this freaky place?"

Spike shrugged. "Well, yeah. I guess. I mean, my egg was laid there, but then they brought me to Equestria. Like I said, I've been here my whole life. Well, you know, my whole life since I hatched."

"Ah!" Twilight cried. "Here it is! They're called 'humans.' Oh my, the entry's only a paragraph, and there's no picture. It says the humans are much smaller than dragons. They're bipedal, apparently mammals, and they look similar to apes or monkeys. Wow, is that all the information we have? That's not very much. You know what that means, don't you?" She clicked her front hooves together in glee. "That means the ambassador's visit might be an opportunity for research!"

Spike muttered to Rainbow, "Her mood sure changed fast."

"Oh, he's not a dragon," Fluttershy said in relief. "So he's furry? And small? And he's a monkey? Oh, I love monkeys. Maybe we'll be the best of friends-"

Twilight closed the encyclopedia. "Fluttershy, it does not say he's a monkey. It just says he's like a monkey, and I don't think the ambassador is coming to Ponyville to make friends."

"Twilight Sparkle, what is the meaning of this?" Pushing past Fluttershy, Mayor Mare cantered into the room. "I have just received a letter from Princess Celestia. She tells me an ambassador is coming? To see Spike?"

"Um, yes," Twilight said. "We just found out, too."

The mayor glared over her half-moon spectacles. "Why was I not told before? I won't have Ponyville the site of an international incident!"

"I don't know, Miss Mayor. Maybe this is all the warning the princess could give us-"

"Oh, what shall we do?" the mayor said, throwing a hoof to her forehead. "We aren't prepared for this! We need weeks! Months!"

Twilight was thinking about the P.S. the princess had added to the end of her letter, "Keep Pinkie Pie away from him." That was uncharacteristic of Celestia, and it caused Twilight to think the mayor was right: this was serious. It had to be, if the princess really thought one of Twilight's friends could cause irreparable problems. It also indicated that Celestia didn't quite understand what she was asking; there was no keeping Pinkie away from anything she didn't want to be kept away from.

"We need to prepare something dignified, something noble," the mayor said. "Something to show honor and respect to the ambassador. We need some kind of celebration-"

"Did someone say celebration?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she burst into the room, knocking Fluttershy aside. "I am always ready for a celebration!"

Twilight's heart sank. They were doomed.

As everypony gaped in mute horror, Pinkie reached out through the front door and pulled in her party cannon. "Look!" she shouted. "Instant celebration!" She pounded the button on the cannon's back, and it fired a burst of confetti and balloons into the midst of the library. The blast knocked all the carefully sorted piles of powder and metal shavings from Twilight's desk to the floor.

"Oh, no, my work!" Twilight cried. She ran to the desk to assess the damage and found that the metals were hopelessly mixed; she would have to get new samples.

"Oops." Pinkie giggled.

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted. "We are getting a visit from a very important ambassador! There's no telling what he could do, but he definitely, certainly, will not want a party!"

Pinkie's face dropped. "Ohhhhhh."

Twilight sighed, relieved. "Yes, you understand. A quiet, dignified reception-"

"He doesn't want to party," Pinkie said.

"No. He'll want-"

"He wants to par-tay!" Pinkie jumped around the room in glee. "We'll get DJ P0n3, and she'll play all the bumpin' tunes, and-"

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted.

Pinkie stopped bouncing and fluttered her eyelashes in Twilight's face. "Yes, Twilight?"

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh. "Just . . . just . . ." She tried to think of a polite way to say what she was going to say, but couldn't come up with one, so she said it impolitely instead. "Just stay out of it, okay?"

Pinkie's face dropped again, but now it stayed that way.

Twilight turned to the others. "All right, we need to get organized. Spike, get quill, ink, and parchment. We're making a checklist."

"I'm on it," Spike said, digging into the desk and pulling out the supplies.

Twilight said to Rainbow Dash, "First thing we'll need to take care of is catering. Rainbow, could you go to Sugarcube Corner and talk to the Cakes? Might be a good idea to talk to the Apples, too. The letter says the ambassador can't eat hay or straw, so we'll need fruit and baked goods and anything else he can probably eat."

Rainbow saluted. "I'm on it." She zoomed out the door.

Twilight turned to the mayor. "Miss Mayor, we'll need a formal reception at Town Hall."

"Why, yes, of course, you're right," the mayor said.

Twilight spoke to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, could you help decorate Town Hall while the mayor is making preparations?"

"Of course, Twilight." She and the mayor left.

Twilight turned to Owloysius. "And since the ambassador is coming to see Spike, this place needs to be spic and span. Owloysius, can you start the cleaning while Spike and I figure out what else needs to be done?"

"Hoo," Owloysius said, and he flew from his perch to begin the chores.

"Now, Spike . . . oh, Pinkie Pie." Twilight saw that Pinkie was still in the library, sitting on her haunches in the middle of the room, staring glumly at the floor. Her usually poofy mane had gone straight.

Twilight swallowed. He hadn't even arrived yet, but it seemed the dragons' ambassador was already causing problems.

**Next: Severin Arrives**


	5. Chapter 5: Severin Arrives

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 5: Severin Arrives**

Pinkie Pie marched to the edge of town where Cranky Doodle and Matilda Donkey lived in their little cottage, and banged furiously on the door. "Cranky!" she shouted. "Matilda! I have to talk to you!"

Matilda opened the door and Pinkie, who had still been pounding on it, fell flat on her face on the threshold.

"Pinkie Pie?" Matilda asked. "What's the matter?"

Pinkie raised her head and said, "I need you to explain this 'peace and quiet' thing to me again."

"Come in, dear."

A few minutes later, Pinkie was sitting in the Donkeys' living room with a cup of tea on the coffee table before her. The room was pleasantly shabby, decorated with the bric-a-brac Cranky had picked up during his long, lonely travels. The Donkeys themselves, married now for almost a year thanks largely to Pinkie's good-natured meddling, sat across from her. Cranky was still wearing the blond pompadour-shaped toupee Pinkie had bought him, and Matilda was heavily and happily pregnant.

As patiently as he could (which wasn't very), Cranky tried to explain certain concepts that Pinkie had difficulty wrapping her head around.

"Some ponies just prefer, erm, calm," Cranky said in his gravelly voice.

"Isn't that boring?" Pinkie asked, her front hooves pressed to her head in a show of concentration.

"Not to those who like it."

"Not everypony can enjoy a wild party, dear," Matilda added.

"Especially donkeys," Cranky said. "Best thing for a donkey in Equestria is to keep his head down, mind his own business, work hard, and thank Celestia he has it as good as he does. Best thing for everypony, really."

Pinkie dropped her hooves. "Wait? Why donkeys especially?"

With a small smile, Matilda cleared her throat and said, "This might be hard for you to understand, Pinkie, dear, since you like everypony, but . . . well, a lot of ponies aren't too fond of donkeys."

Pinkie stomped her front hooves on the floor. "What?"

Cranky chuckled. "Remember when Princess Celestia started inviting donkeys to the Grand Galloping Gala? A lot of the upper-class Unicorns said they wouldn't come."

"That changed when Fancypants told everypony he was still going, though," Matilda said.

"Yeah, Fancypants has always been a good guy. Remembers where he came from, I suppose."

"Wait," Pinkie said, twisting her head back and forth as she tried to grasp what Cranky and Matilda were saying, "some ponies don't like donkeys? Why?"

"Oh, donkeys don't have it nearly as bad as mules," Matilda said, lost in her own thoughts now. "Why, my older brother Stephen married a pony mare, and their son Eldred had the hardest time finding work when he grew up. Ponies are always saying mules are ugly. And stubborn. That's what everypony told Eldred when he tried to get a job. Didn't want to work with no stubborn mule, they said. It's ridiculous, too: why, every mule I've ever known was a hardier, stronger, and better worker than any pony. Or donkey, for that matter."

"It's a good thing they live in Fillydelphia," said Cranky. "If a donkey married a pony in someplace like Dodge Junction, he'd likely get attacked with pies or something."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Matilda said. "You always exaggerate, Cranky."

"I don't exaggerate. You never know what those settler ponies are capable of. Didn't you hear about Apple-loosa and the buffalo?" Cranky tapped a hoof. "Who knows? Maybe all those murdered Unicorns they've been finding were married to donkeys."

"Now you're being silly. And I hear the Apple-loosans get along with the buffalo just fine."

"I'm not so sure I approve of this cross-breeding myself, though," Cranky mused. "Mules, you know, they have a . . . uh, well, a health problem."

"Cranky!"

"It's true."

Matilda scowled and turned away from him. "You've never liked my brother or his family."

"I do like them!" Cranky protested. "I only said mules have a health problem, is all! Don't you care that your nephew will never be able to have children of his own?"

"That's no reason to go criticizing my brother."

"I didn't say anything bad about your brother."

Matilda was about to answer when she noticed Pinkie's face going through a series of bizarre contortions while her coat changed from pink to red. Pinkie jumped up onto her hind hooves. "Are . . . are you saying . . . are . . . ?"

"Oh, dear, calm down, Pinkie," Matilda said. "Some folk just have trouble getting used to other folk. You remember how everypony had a hard time getting to know Zecora, don't you?"

"That's it!" Pinkie shouted. "I get it! They don't want me to meet the ambassador because they don't want him to feel welcome because they don't like him because he's not a pony!"

"What?" Cranky asked. "What ambassador? What are you talking about?"

Without so much as a goodbye, Pinkie sped out the door.

Cranky rose to his hooves. "I better go after her. If I know anything about that pony, she's headed for some kind of disaster."

* * *

><p>Severin had been curious to meet Luna, so he was more than pleased when Celestia told him the Princess of the Night would accompany him to Ponyville. He knew the bare outlines of Luna's story, though he was unclear on how, exactly, the former Night Mare Moon had transformed back into her old self.<p>

From her silver throne, which now sat beside Celestia's golden one, Luna gave him the elaborate formal greeting that no ambassador had heard in generations, and he replied with all the proper responses, though he was unable entirely to hide his amusement as he did so.

Having finished the royal greeting, Luna descended. Severin knelt and kissed her hoof, but then stood and placed a hand on her withers; this was the ancient practice of the dragons' ambassadors when greeting a princess: a show of self-abasement followed by a show of close familiarity. Celestia considered such rites a nuisance, but Luna was a natural at them.

Luna observed that Severin, though clearly both intelligent and well trained for his role, had a faint hint of arrogance as well as some more violent emotion lurking behind his carefully composed face and smooth manners. She also noticed the way his eyes roved unchivalrously over her points.

For his part, Severin was a skilled horseman back in Draconium where horses were unmagical and didn't talk, and he couldn't help but size up Equestria's natives. Most of the ponies, with their short, stocky bodies, were not to his liking, but he could appreciate the graceful Celestia as a fine mare, and could tell that Luna, too, who already stood over fourteen hands high (and was therefore, by his standards, not really a pony), would be just as impressive when she was full-grown, if not moreso. To his eyes, she looked built for running, though she also had the tautly muscled neck common to Unicorns trained in the traditional fighting arts. He had to resist the urge to closely inspect her cannons or look in her mouth.

They walked together through the palace toward the high front gates, his hand still between her shoulders.

"We see that thou wearest a sword, Ambassador."

"I do, Your Highness."

"Hast thou skill with it?"

"Some have said so, though I confess that most of them are dead."

Luna laughed.

"Am I remiss in thinking you a fencer, Your Highness?"

"We had noticed that thou wast observant, Ambassador."

"Many apologies. You know horses are different in my homeland."

"Of course. We have not fenced in a long while, however. Few Unicorns today, alas, know the art."

Severin gazed at her long, exquisite horn and wondered how it would feel to cross his blade with it. "Perhaps we should have a bout."

"Perhaps we shall, but business before pleasure."

He followed her out of Canterlot Castle to where her black chariot was waiting, already hitched by heavy chains to her bat-winged Pegasi. Moondancer, standing in the chariot, knelt as Luna approached.

"We hope thou wilt not take it amiss if our protégé accompanieth us."

"Of course not."

"Moondancer, this is Ambassador Severin. Ambassador, this is Moondancer, a pupil in the School for Gifted Unicorns."

Severin took one of Moondancer's hooves and kissed it, thinking to himself that he was kissing an awful lot of hoof on this trip. "Charmed," he said.

"Likewise," Moondancer answered.

Luna and Severin both pulled the hoods of their traveling cloaks over their heads. The chariot took off from Canterlot, and a great, black storm cloud rolled after it, shooting lightning over the land below. The rushing wind and the peals of thunder were so loud as to make conversation impossible, so Severin merely watched Luna, who, with eyes aglow, stood behind the reins with a fierce expression on her shadowed face. So this was how the Princess of the Night traveled! No wonder the ponies quaked in their bell boots whenever she approached.

Severin glanced at Moondancer. She was apparently enjoying the ride, her red mane whipping in the wind. He was impressed that Luna's display didn't cow her.

As they neared the end of their journey, the sun set, the sky turned red, and the trail of clouds behind the chariot glowed like flame. The lightning became less frequent and the thunder died down, so speaking became possible. Luna turned to Severin and said, "If thou wilt excuse us, we must raise the moon."

"Of course, Your Highness. I wouldn't dream of keeping you from your royal duty."

Luna's traveling cloak burst into a cloud of black bats. With the bats circling her, she spread her great wings and rose into the air, a white flame shooting from her horn. Severin watched as the moon, almost full and tinted orange, rose in the east. When it cleared the horizon, Luna lowered back into the chariot and the horde of bats reassembled at her shoulders.

Severin grinned. In truth, he didn't much like ponies, but he had to admit they had their charms, and this Luna was plainly an impressive lady. Sometimes, he could almost wish these mares were women.

He shook his head to remove that thought, and he laughed at himself. Clearly, he'd been away from home too long.

"I am the first ambassador of Draconium to see that in over a millennium," he said, "and it was amazing. Thank you."

"Thou flatterest us."

"Of course I do. But Equestria for a thousand years has had only one goddess. How do the ponies handle two?"

Luna scowled and glanced askance at him. "Goddess?"

"Of course. Of all the peoples in the wide world, only the ponies have no cult, and the reason why is obvious: they worship no gods because their god lives among them. High in their capitol is an immortal who controls the sun. They swear by her, too. I've heard them: 'By Celestia,' they say, or 'As Celestia is my witness.' They say that even when Celestia can't possibly be witnessing them. When a pony says 'princess,' he plainly means 'goddess.' And this worship extends outside your land, too. After all, all peoples everywhere, not just the ponies, rely on the steady cycle of day and night. As far away as Pixieland, they have an expression that goes, 'Celestia makes her sun to shine on both the evil and the good.' In Demonland, they have statues of both of you at crossroads, before which travelers prostrate themselves. Mind you, the images don't look quite like ponies, but they're called Celestia and Luna, and they are idols to the goddesses of sun and moon."

Luna, the scowl still on her face, watched the darkening land below as it sped beneath the chariot, dissolving into the black distance behind. "In former times, all the Unicorns together united their power twice daily to both bring and banish night. It was arduous and dangerous, and some Unicorns would perish when the trial of this magic overwhelmed them. After Celestia and I descended, we took this task on our own withers and freed the Unicorns of a dire burden, but it was not until Discord beseteth the land, and we defeated him, that the ponies desired to declare us queens. Celestia did that title refuseth, taking the name of princess only, so that she might never become too haughty, nor forget compassion."

Proudly, Luna looked Severin in the eye. "We have never taken the name of goddess."

"Take whatever name you like," Severin answered, "but that doesn't change what you are. A ruler is a queen, not a princess, no matter what she calls herself. A queen with absolute power and no subordinates worth mentioning is an autocrat or a despot. An immortal who moves the heavens is a goddess. So your sister is a despotic goddess, or hadn't you noticed?"

"Why debate we definitions, Ambassador?"

"Because for a millennium, the ponies have believed in a benevolent goddess in Canterlot and a devil, dangerous but distant, in the moon. 'Celestia's in her palace and all's right with the world,' as they say. But now the devil is loose and claims to be reformed. How do the ponies react?"

Luna looked away from him again and gazed at the stars overhead. "Some fear us. Some mistrust us." She paused a moment. "But some seem to like us."

"Because of your antics on Nightmare Night?"

Luna started.

Severin laughed. "Ah! I see from your reaction that the rumor's true. A pity. You are mistress of the moon, but you've let the ponies reduce you to a circus freak."

"Thou hast given insult, Ambassador."

"So I have. My apologies, Your Highness. I should not speak so freely, but it hurts my heart to see a deity fall."

Though his words cut her, Luna grinned in spite of herself. "And what if we be not a deity, but a devil, as thou sayest?"

"In that case, I applaud your game. Like any good devil, you'll lull them into thinking you harmless, and then you'll strike."

"Say, rather, 'like any bad devil.' For how can a devil be good?"

"Just so, Your Highness. A good devil is a bad devil, for if he be good, then he's bad at being a devil."

"We hope thy sword is sharper than thy wit, Ambassador. We intend to hold thee to that promise of a bout."

"I made no promise, Your Highness, but I eagerly anticipate the fulfillment of the promise I didn't make."

"Be warned, we tend to draw blood when we touch."

"I've left blood before on swords, claws, teeth, and horn. I'm none the worse for losing it, though those who've dared to take it have found it dear."

"If thy fight is as mighty as thy talk, thou wilt be indeed a worthy opponent."

"A moment ago, you said my wit was dull. If my talk is mighty, but my wit dull, then my wit must be a club with which I may bludgeon an unwitting conversationalist."

"Then thou art an ungentle cur, Ambassador, for if thou usest even a dull wit on the unwitting, thou drawest a weapon against the unarmed."

"Ah! So I do. Touché, Your Highness, and I am no gentleman."

Moondancer listened silently through all of this and chewed her lower lip. She wanted Luna to be a devil. Already, Luna had given her a taste of the ancient lore in the moldering books on the dusty shelves of her dark chamber, and Moondancer wanted more of it. Moondancer really was a brilliant student; she had already nearly mastered Luna's cipher, and she had already deciphered the titles of a few of Luna's grimoires: they included books that probably existed nowhere else in the world, and hadn't for hundreds of years. Luna's library contained such monstrous titles as Witch-Cult of Western Equestria, De Equus Mysteriis, and Unaussprechlichen Pferde. But chief among them was the dreaded Equinomicon, which legend made the most potent and horrible of all tomes of forbidden pony magic.

Moondancer was an exceptional Unicorn. She was the top student in every class she took . . . unless, of course, Twilight Sparkle was in the same class. She excelled in academics, yet what she truly craved was not learning, but power, a power she could never grasp with the conventional, safe, controlled methods of modern Unicorn magic. It was the wild magic of the elder days she craved, the power Unicorns once wielded in Equestria's dim past before the advent of the princesses, when they were strong enough to raise and lower the sun and moon themselves. Moondancer was willing even to explore the mumblings and peepings of the lawless Witch-Ponies, who had reveled in worship of Night Mare Moon and drunk the blood of foals so that they might call up devils and commune with the dead. Indeed, even that might be too little for her: if it were possible, she would seize even the abilities of the infamous Chaoticists, those strange and dangerous beings who, so legend told, appeared every few hundred years among the Earth Ponies, and who could warp the very fabric of reality itself.

* * *

><p>In Ponyville, the Cakes were nearly frantic. Not only had they been asked to cater a surprise event right after Nightmare Night had depleted their stock, but they couldn't find Pinkie Pie anywhere, which meant both that they were missing an assistant and that there was nopony to babysit little Pumpkin and Pound.<p>

The two baby ponies were a little under a year old, so they were now rambunctious foals-at-foot, getting into everything as they followed their dam while she scurried around the kitchen. Cup Cake was just preparing to frost a cooled batch of cupcakes when she looked up in dismay to see little Pumpkin Cake with her head in the bowl of icing.

"No, Pumpkin!" Cup Cake cried. She pulled the foal out of the bowl and tried in vain to wipe the frosting from her face. "By all the peppermint sticks in Equestria, can't you two sit still?"

Pound Cake flapped his little wings, flew up to the ceiling, and then dropped down onto the tray of fresh cupcakes, splattering them. After he landed, Pound blinked in surprise and started bawling.

Carrot Cake galloped through the kitchen door and jumped back and forth between his four hooves in impatience. "Are we ready to go, Honeybun?"

"Well, the last batch of cupcakes is ruined, if-"

"No time! No time!" Carrot cried. "The princess and the ambassador just arrived!"

Cup Cake blanched so that her blue coat almost turned white. "Princess Celestia is here too? This is terrible! We'll be-"

"Worse! It's Luna! Come on, Sweetcakes!"

They pushed what they had managed to prepare in the short time allotted out into the front room, where Applejack, who had offered to help, was setting a long banquet table with apple pies, apple fritters, and other goods she'd prepared at the farm. She was currently gripping in her teeth a bowl full of husked corn. When Carrot and Cup Cake appeared, she dropped the bowl on the table and asked, "Can this here ambassador feller eat corn?"

"Oh, I don't know, dear," Cup Cake said as she helped Carrot lay out cookies and cakes. "But they say he can't eat grass. If he can't eat grass, I don't see how he could eat corn."

"Good point," Applejack said, picking up the bowl again. "I'll just tuck this in th' kitchen, if'n y'all don't mind."

"If he can't eat grass, how can he eat cake?" Carrot asked. "We make it from grain."

"Corn's a grain, I reckon," Applejack said. "I'll just put this back down, then." She dropped the bowl back on the table.

"Aren't grains just kinds of grass?" Cup Cake asked.

"Well, in that case-" Applejack picked up the bowl.

"They're the seeds, Honeybun," Carrot said. "So maybe he can eat seeds but can't eat the rest of it."

Applejack put the bowl down again. "Eats the seeds but not the stalks? That's a waste. This poor feller must have more stomach problems'n a rheumy hound dog on a month-old carcass."

"Oh, Applejack, dear," said Cup Cake, wrinkling her muzzle, "that's disgusting!"

Cup Cake was distracted when she saw Pound and Pumpkin crawling their way out from under the saloon-style kitchen door. She ran over to pick them up.

"Hey, y'all need someone t' watch th' foals?" Applejack asked.

"Oh, goodness yes," Cup Cake said through the teeth she had clenched around Pumpkin's diaper. "We can't find Pinkie Pie anywhere."

"Well, shoot, I ain't too good with these hoity-toity get-togethers. Maybe I'll just take the tikes off o' your hooves for a few hours. Gives me a good excuse t' skedaddle."

"Applejack, you're a lifesaver." Cup Cake swiftly fitted Applejack with her saddlebag-style foal-carrier and set the babies in it. "Now, I made a to-do list for Pinkie earlier. It's taped upstairs on the nursery door. Try to tuck them in at a decent hour, and keep a close eye on little Pumpkin. She's started crib-biting."

"Don't y'all worry none," Applejack said. "Me an' Big Macintosh practically reared our little sister ourselves after our sire an' dam died. I got plenty of experience with little fillies, an' I figger Pound here won't give me nothin' this old mare can't handle, neither."

She trotted through the kitchen and went upstairs.

Cup Cake and Carrot Cake breathed a sigh of relief, but they didn't have time to relax: at that moment, Mayor Mare, looking exceptionally nervous, trotted in and then stood to the side to make room for the eminent guests.

Princess Luna and Ambassador Severin entered first, closely followed by Moondancer. After them entered Twilight Sparkle and Spike, followed by Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and a few other ponies. Everypony in the party looked decidedly uncomfortable.

When Cup Cake saw Luna, her heart leapt into her throat, but when she saw Severin, it dropped down into her front hooves. She had been told he wouldn't be a pony, but she hadn't expected him to be such a grotesque monstrosity. It was as if someone had taken his body and tilted it up on end, twisting his limbs all out of joint in the process. The way he walked was simultaneously comical and hideous: he threw one leg forward, putting himself precariously off-balance, and then when that leg landed, he threw the other leg after it. Worst of all, his hocks pointed the wrong way, so watching his legs bend made her cringe. When he stopped walking and stood still, she expected him to fall over. How he kept his balance was a mystery.

Of course, she reflected, Spike also walked on his hind legs, but at least he had his center of gravity low to the ground.

When Severin drew closer, Cup Cake noticed his objectionable odor, and she had to struggle to avoid wrinkling her snout.

Severin either didn't notice anything amiss, or else he pretended not to notice. He bowed at the waist, and Cup Cake sucked in her breath. She was certain that motion must defy a few laws of physics.

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Cake," Severin said after he righted himself. "You have my deepest thanks for preparing such a feast for us on such short notice."

"Oh, oh my," Cup Cake said, suddenly flustered. "Why, it was nothing-"

He took one of her front hooves and bowed his face toward it before turning back to his makeshift entourage. Cup Cake blushed scarlet.

"I must say," Severin said, "this unexpected journey is a great boon to me, however much it must disrupt the routine of these ponies, for it gives me the opportunity to experience the hospitalities of villages even outside Canterlot. A true privilege."

Twilight, who was acting unusually nervous, said, "Well, you must be hungry after that trip. I think Applejack and the Cakes have found something here you can eat."

"Thank you," he said.

Carrot Cake was jittery as he pulled out chairs for Luna, Spike, Twilight, Moondancer, and Severin at a large table set up in a corner of the room. The seats were built for ponies, so when Severin sat in his, he found his head almost level with the tabletop. He didn't mention it, however.

Carrot Cake offered him a glass of sarsaparilla, and he took it with a smile. Behind the smile, however, he was wondering if he could avoid drinking it without insulting his hosts; he knew sarsaparilla was a delicacy to the ponies, but he had tried it before and found it revolting.

Hastily prepared as it was, and with only vague instructions from Celestia, the spread was unusually mean: The Cakes and Applejack had put together some bowls of fruit, some trays of cookies, a few pies, a few cakes, and little else. With polished manners, Severin accepted everything he was served. He had already prepared himself for the food he was likely to get in Ponyville: Equestria's fare was never to his liking, but at least Celestia had learned over time to go to great lengths to accommodate the tastes of Draconium's ambassadors. The Ponyvillains, on the other hand, knew nothing of a human's diet. He was well aware that ponies somehow managed to subsist on almost nothing but hay, fruit, and confections, so, as he had expected they would, they simply served him the fruit and confections minus the hay. He ate the fruit happily enough, but wondered if he could politely avoid the nauseatingly sweet desserts.

The dragons were harsh masters, and their own appetites ran to things even more inedible than what the ponies ate, but at least they knew how to feed their slaves: Severin was never short of meat on the rare occasions when he was at home. At the moment, he thought he might be willing to give up his sword arm for a tankard of mead and a cut of the cold chine.

After the meal was well underway and Severin had devoured two apples, core and all, Twilight cleared her throat.

"So," she asked, "how are things in Draconium?"

Severin gave her a smile containing a hint of condescension. "The seven dragon lords still sit at the stone table, Miss Sparkle."

She nodded. "Oh. Well. That's, um, a good thing, isn't it?"

"Opinions differ."

"Ah."

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"Among the great lords, of course, is my master, Lord Foulsbereth, the father of Master Spike."

Spike coughed and nearly upset his glass of sarsaparilla.

Twilight laughed nervously. "So, what about you? Are you, uh, married? Have any children?"

Severin's face was an unreadable mask as he answered. "Because the dragons consider me to be of exceptionally good stock, they have on six occasions permitted me to breed. I was, of course, never again allowed to see the wenches on whom I sired my issue, nor was I allowed to see the children themselves, who would have been ripped away from their mothers immediately after birth and brought to the House of Rearing to be given to the wet nurses. The dragons so train us that we have none of the familial ties or foolish sentiments that cloud the minds of other species."

There was a longer, even more uncomfortable silence.

Severin finally broke the silence himself. "Miss Sparkle, Princess Celestia tells me you are her personal protégé, and that you were assigned to be Master Spike's teacher because of your exceptional talents."

"Well, yes. He's been my assistant since I joined the school in Canterlot."

"I assume you've taught him history and political theory."

Twilight glanced at Spike, who so far had been too nervous to contribute to the conversation. "Well, I've given him a lot of books on the subjects-"

"Excellent," Severin said. "The time must be approaching when he will mature. He'll begin hoarding things and will lose his powers of reason, of course; that's the sign that a dragon is entering adolescence. Then it will be time to bring a new egg to Canterlot and to send Spike home to Draconium where he will grow to adulthood and his mind will return. After that, he will complete his training under his own father." Severin looked at Spike and frowned. "In fact, he's old enough, I'm surprised he hasn't begun to mature already."

Twilight and Spike glanced at each other again.

Finally, Spike spoke. "Um, Ambassador-"

"Master Spike," Severin said, "forgive me for interrupting, but you are a dragon and I am a human. I cannot bear to hear you address me by my title."

"Oh. Well, okay, Severin-"

"Master," Severin said, interrupting again, "dragons never address humans by titles or names. I must ask you to call me 'it,' 'thing,' or 'creature.' This is the tradition between our two peoples."

Luna, who had been silent through the whole exchange, pounded a hoof on the floor and turned on Severin. "He shall not," she said. "He shall address thee politely."

"He is your hostage," Severin answered, "but not your slave. He will do as the traditions of Draconium require, and not as the effeminate pony manners dictate. Master Spike, you must not treat me as if I were a person. I am your thing. You could rip my throat out with your claws and no dragon would consider it a crime."

"Here it would be murder," Luna answered. "Thou goest too far, Ambassador, and we know thou art trying to provoke us."

"I'm really not interested in ripping anypony's throat," Spike said, laughing forcedly and then stopping abruptly when he saw that nopony was laughing with him. "But, Am- I mean, Sev- I mean . . . I want to ask, what would happen if I, well, you know, just decided not to hoard stuff?"

Severin frowned. "I do not understand."

"You said I'd hoard stuff when I start growing up. What if I just didn't?"

Severin laughed. "Master Spike, don't be concerned if you're a late bloomer. You'll begin hoarding soon."

"I mean, what if I decided not to?"

"Master, it's part of how you grow. You can't help it."

"But if I did?"

Severin shrugged. "I've never heard of such a thing, but I suppose you'd be a baby forever. You needn't worry about that, though."

Spike, a worried frown on his face, sank in his chair and contemplated.

He didn't have long to think about the matter, however: almost as soon as Spike sank into a moody silence, Pinkie Pie burst through the front door and shouted, "If this is a consular party, where is the ambassador?"

Before anypony could react, she jumped back outside and pushed her welcome wagon into the room; being too large for the door, it shattered the doorframe.

Carrot Cake turned frantic. "Pinkie Pie? Where have you been? And what are you doing?"

The room was in instant uproar. Pinkie jumped onto the top of her wagon and scanned the room. As soon as she spotted Severin, she leapt toward his table, halted suddenly in midair, and dropped right in front of him, pointing a hoof in his face. "You! You don't look like a pony!"

Severin rose to his feet and bowed slightly. "I'm not. And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm here to make sure you feel welcome!"

"I do. Thank-"

Cranky Donkey ran in through the front door. "Pinkie!" he shouted. "I found you! Now, come along, and-"

"Cranky!" Pinkie cried in glee. She backflipped into the center of the room, ran between Cranky's legs, and lifted him onto her back. Carrying him, she leapt and danced around the room, singing at the top of her lungs:

"Cranky Doodle came to town,

"Riding on a pony!

"The pony dropped him on the ground,

"And served him macaroni!"

She bucked him off her back and he landed on his haunches. Pinkie pulled a piping hot plate of macaroni and cheese, seemingly out of nowhere, and dropped it in front of him. He was too stunned to speak.

Pinkie ran to her welcome wagon and pressed a button. It sprang open, revealing an oven surrounded by a wild assortment of pipes and tubes. "Mister weird-looking ambassador guy who's not a pony," she announced, "this is for you!" Whipping out first a drum and then a trumpet, she cavorted about, singing her welcome song. Just as she finished, the oven on the wagon burst open, shooting out a cloud of hot confetti. Then the pipes blasted out a stream of cake batter that hit the ceiling and exploded into a shower, coating the entire room and everypony in it.

Pinkie stuck out her tongue and licked the batter off her face. She laughed hysterically and rolled on the floor. "Oh, wow! I have got to label the oven and the confetti cannons in pen instead of pencil! I always get them mixed up!"

Just to add to the confusion, the little Cake twins, screaming and giggling, ran out of the kitchen with Applejack close behind.

"C'mon back here, ya little varmints!" Applejack shouted.

When the babies hit the cake batter, they lost their footing and went sliding across the floor into Pinkie.

"Hey, guys!" Pinkie said. Pound Cake started kicking Pinkie's welcome wagon, and Pumpkin started gobbling cake batter from the floor.

When Applejack hit the batter, she promptly flipped over and fell onto her back.

Severin reached under his cloak and found an unsoiled kerchief. He pulled it out and wiped batter from his face. He turned to Luna, who was looking significantly less dignified now that she was covered in goo.

"I always enjoy visiting Equestria, Your Highness," Severin said. "It is certainly never dull."

Moondancer had observed quietly the whole evening, and she watched Pinkie Pie's antics with especially close interest: here was an Earth Pony with an ability to exert tremendous strength, to overcome inertia, and to pull objects out of thin air, all for the apparent purpose of causing disorder and mayhem. Could it really be that Twilight Sparkle, after all her studies, didn't realize what this pink pony was? Could it be that Luna didn't realize, either?

Moondancer watched Luna and Twilight closely. They gave no indication that they considered Pinkie anything other than an embarrassment.

But Moondancer knew better: here before her was a true Chaoticist, just as the legends described. This Pinkie Pie would be her chance to outshine Twilight Sparkle at last.

First, she became the dark princess's protégé, and then she discovered a legendary source of powerful magic. Oh, this had been a glorious day.

**Next: A Nightmare Slumber Party?**


	6. Chapter 6:  A Nightmare Slumber Party?

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 6: A Nightmare Slumber Party?**

Since the reception for Ambassador Severin had ended disastrously with the ambassador doused in cake batter, Mayor Mare decided the best thing was to send him someplace where he could get cleaned up, and the only place she could think of was the spa.

Ordinarily, the spa wasn't open so late, but after the mayor pleaded with the spa twins, Aloe and Lotus, they agreed to give Severin the full treatment.

Because of all the excitement following Pinkie Pie's antics, Severin himself had no say in the matter. In all likelihood, he would have objected, but in the midst of the chaos, which consisted largely of ponies slipping and sliding around the floor until the interior of Sugarcube Corner was entirely wrecked, Aloe tossed him onto her back and cantered off with him.

The last thing he saw before she pulled him out of the room was a gray Pegasus mare with a blonde mane and crossed eyes jumping onto a table and belly-flopping into the midst of the sea of batter while shouting, "Woohoo!"

Before Severin knew what was happening, he was divested of his soiled clothes, bathed, and in rapid succession moved through a sauna, a mud bath, and a footbath. Then he found himself facedown on a table.

At last, he realized what was going on, and he tried to make his escape, but was too late: unaware that a human was more gracile and delicate than a pony, Aloe reared up and proceeded to give him a massage, which meant hard hooves and almost the full weight of a small horse pressing into his back. Fortunately, she was unshod; if she'd had horseshoes, she likely would have broken his ribs. As it was, he staggered away from the event clad in nothing but an ill-fitting terrycloth robe and covered in dark bruises.

When he walked back into the waiting room, he found a white Unicorn mare waiting for him. She fluttered her eyelashes and asked, "How was your spa experience, Ambassador?"

"Breathtaking. And who might you be, Miss?"

"I am Rarity the Unicorn."

"Yes, well, I was aware of the Unicorn part. Would you by any chance know what happened to my clothes?"

"Ah, your ensemble. Yes, I had the privilege of cleansing it for you."

"Thank you. May I-?"

"However, I could easily fit you out with something much more charming than those tired old things."

"Those tired old things are the official ambassadorial regalia of Draconium, and they are, believe it or not, quite practical for the kind of life I lead."

"Oh, I'm sure they are," she said, gesturing dismissively with a hoof. "I could just spruce them up a bit, design something quite similar, but with a much more stylish cut and perhaps a few gemstones-"

"Gemstones attract thieves, Miss. I have enough trouble with highwaymen as it is."

"I'm sorry, I don't know that term-"

"Highwayponies."

"Oh, my. Ruffians?"

"Yes. Not all roads are as safe as Equestria's. If I were to display any obvious wealth, I would be inviting attack."

"Oh, don't I know. Why, just a little over a year ago, I was ponynapped by Diamond Dogs who wanted me to find them gems, and they were simply brutish. No manners whatsoever. And don't even get me started on their hygiene."

"I assure you I won't. It must have been quite traumatic. I'm sorry, Miss, but it's late, and I would prefer to retire, yet I must first get dressed. My race is more modest than yours, and more sensitive to cold besides. I must have clothes."

Rarity's eyes lit up. "Really? How marvelous for you. Ponies only wear clothes for adornment, you understand. But to need them . . . well, your dressmakers must do a wonderful business. I'm a dressmaker myself, you see."

Severin could feel himself getting angry, so he took a deep breath to restore his calm. He had spent many years learning to avoid any strong displays of emotion, but the events of this night were testing his patience. "I am not sure we humans even have dressmakers, as you call them. We-"

"Somepony should start a business, then."

"We don't have businesses, either."

"Oh."

It occurred to Severin how to move this conversation onto a better track. "I'm rather surprised, Miss Rarity, that you are out this late by yourself. I understand there have been some rather gruesome acts of violence committed against Unicorn Ponies of late. I would have thought that no Unicorn would be out after dark unescorted."

Rarity started. "Oh, my. I've heard of such barbaric things, but I never thought to hear them mentioned in polite company." With affected agitation, she sent a blast of magic from her horn, calling into view a red velvet chaise longue, onto which she threw herself, raising one hoof to her forehead in a show of distress.

After observing this display, Severin took a moment to collect himself. "Many pardons, Miss," he said slowly, trying to pick the right words. "My coarse traveler's manners are undoubtedly too rough for your tastes, but you must admit that, unsavory though it may be, what I suggest is only practical."

"I suppose you're right, but those crimes happened in frontier towns-"

"Perhaps this hasn't been the frontier for a couple of generations, but Ponyville is on the edge of the Everfree Forest, after all. Who knows what could happen here? If Diamond Dogs burrow in the vicinity, what else might be lurking about?"

Rarity, suddenly looking fearful, swallowed. She jumped to her feet again and shuffled back and forth between her hooves. "Ooh, maybe I should have asked for an escort-"

"If you would kindly fetch my garb, I would gladly take you home. I assume you brought it?"

"What? Oh, yes. Right over here." Her horn glowed and Severin's clothes, armor, and sword, all neatly folded or stacked, floated into view. He plucked them out of the air, said his thanks, and stepped behind a screen where he quickly donned everything. He had to admit that Rarity had done a fine job: his travel-spotted cloak and trousers had not looked so clean or smelled so fresh in ages.

Severin and Rarity stepped through the front door only to find Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Moondancer standing right outside. He frowned at Rarity. "You came here with them? But-"

"But I should have asked for an escort when I walked into the spa," she said. "You never know where ruffians might be lurking."

Severin shook his head and turned to his hostesses. "Your Highness, Miss Sparkle, thank you for your hospitality and an evening I shall not soon forget. I look forward to a long talk with the both of you tomorrow. If it is no trouble and we have no further business, I would like to retire."

"Of course," Luna said. "We are certain Twilight Sparkle hath made arrangements."

Twilight swallowed and broke out in a cold sweat. She hadn't made arrangements. She had triple-checked her checklist, as always, but she had forgotten to put "Find the ambassador somewhere to sleep" on it in the first place.

She had a brief moment to envision a horde of raging dragons descending on Equestria and burning down every town in revenge for their emissary's bedlessness, but Severin, who apparently noticed her distress, quickly said, "I am, of course, a traveling man accustomed to hard roads and few comforts. I don't expect that Ponyville has featherbeds like Canterlot's awaiting me. Merely a patch of ground long enough for me to stretch my legs is all I need, and I shall wrap myself in my cloak."

He glanced at Luna and gave her a faint smile, but she returned it with a mild glare; according to the elaborate rules of courtly manners, a hostess could not demand more comforts than a guest: if Severin insisted that a night on the cold ground was enough for him, she had to insist it was enough for her, as well.

"And we need no more than this," she said, as it was all she could say.

"Oh, no, no," Twilight answered in a panicked attempt at placation. "Why . . . we have extra beds at the library. I think. Yes, we have, um, one extra bed. And I'll get another! Severin, you can have one, and Luna can have one, and-" She looked at Moondancer, who appeared positively annoyed. "And Moondancer and I can share," Twilight said, and then gave a wide, nervous grin.

Severin bowed slightly. "Your hospitality is boundless."

"We will not require a bed," said Luna.

Severin raised an eyebrow.

"Your Highness," Twilight said, "it's really no trouble. We can just-"

"We are the dark princess," said Luna. "We roam amongst the black clouds invisible to mortal eyes except when they slide across the moon. We divine the stars, haunt the cold wastes, and dive into the deepest caverns where the shadows lie forever untouched by light. Thinkest thou, Twilight Sparkle, that we sleep in the nighttime?" Her eyes gleamed.

Severin made a gesture as of a fencer admitting he'd been touched. They had played another little game of words, and once again she had bested him.

* * *

><p>As they walked toward the library, Spike took time to reflect. He had been nervous and confused the whole evening, not so much because of Severin, or even because of the distressing things Severin had said at dinner, but because of Moondancer.<p>

Spike's years in Canterlot had been lonely. Twilight had hatched him from his egg and reared him herself; he had quickly learned to fetch her books and to cook and clean for her, but back then, she had not been affectionate. She was almost as aloof from him as she was from other ponies, caring about nothing but her books, her assignments, and her grades.

For a long time, most of the other students in the school avoided him. He was, after all, a dragon, an ancient enemy. All the students were Unicorns, as, in fact, were most of the ponies in Canterlot, and for reasons obscure, dragons and Unicorns were natural enemies, possessed as they were of similar aesthetic inclinations based in entirely different motives. Most of the Unicorns in Canterlot were unaware of the checkered history of the two races, and few had more than a vague idea of why Spike, and other baby dragons before him, were in Equestria at all, but they maintained a certain hostility nonetheless.

Only Moondancer had been kind to him, and he had rapidly developed a crush on her. She was beautiful, wild, talented, and popular. Moondancer had always acted pleased to have him tagging along by her side, and thanks to her, the other students became friendlier as well. That made Twilight's coldness easier to bear.

At home, he became a chatterbox. As he was doing his chores, he talked constantly about Moondancer, Moondancer's friends, Moondancer's latest projects, Moondancer's latest parties, Moondancer's latest witty bon mot, until Twilight pounded her front hooves on her reading stand and shouted, "Enough! Spike! I am trying to study!"

"You're always trying to study," he answered sulkily.

"That's because I'm always a student! Students are always trying to study!"

"Well, Moondancer isn't-"

"Enough about Moondancer!"

He had been thinking of telling Twilight how he really felt about Moondancer, but after she snapped at him, he decided, instead, to screw up his courage and confess to Moondancer herself. He procrastinated for weeks, telling himself he was waiting for the perfect opportunity, but at last, when Moondancer announced that she was having another of her many soirees, he bought her a teddy bear, carefully wrapped it, and prepared to attend her party and find an opportunity to pour his heart out.

Of course, that was when Twilight came rushing in, talking about the Elements of Harmony. Soon after, Princess Celestia ordered them to Ponyville. Spike had been to Canterlot only once, briefly, since then.

Besides that, his first glimpse of Rarity had pushed Moondancer from his mind. Rarity, although she shared with Moondancer a tendency toward arrogance and a need to be loved and admired by everypony around her, was everything Moondancer wasn't. Spike had known nopony like her among the young, busy, and consequently slovenly students at the school, most of whom spent their rare free hours indulging in the miscreancies common to youths who boarded at educational institutions away from the watchful eyes of their sires and dams. Rarity possessed a certain reserve and, at least to his mind, a certain maturity he had never encountered before, and it captivated him. But now that Moondancer was here in Ponyville, bringing with her all her brashness and inclinations to delinquency, his old feelings came rushing back.

Seeing Moondancer and Rarity side by side, he couldn't help but compare them. Rarity's beauty was prim and carefully cultivated; she was a proper, mannerly lady. But Moondancer was robust, wild, and energetic, with a free, roving energy. Rarity was demure, Moondancer was dangerous. Spike had thought that Rarity would always be his true love, but now that Moondancer was trotting at his side again, he was hard-pressed to decide which girl he found more alluring.

He couldn't deny it: he was a dragon, but he had the hots for white Unicorn Ponies.

* * *

><p>They left Rarity at her home and then continued to the hollow tree containing the library. Twilight magicked the spare bed down to the main room while Spike carried down the basket in which he slept. Having been up almost all night the night before, he fell asleep on the floor, so Twilight put him in his basket and tucked him in. While the ponies walked upstairs to the bedroom, Severin climbed into the bed and he was quickly asleep as well.<p>

"I'm so glad you came to visit," Twilight told Moondancer as they walked into the bedroom and climbed to the loft. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"You barely saw me even when you were in Canterlot," Moondancer answered.

"Sorry about that. I was kind of reclusive back then."

"Hmm. Rather convenient for them to have such a spacious library with a bedroom for you here. How do you afford it on your stipend?"

"Oh, I couldn't. Princess Celestia is paying the rent."

Moondancer snorted. "Of course she is. So, does Spike ever manage to get you to step outside?"

"Oh, yes. I've made quite a few friends, and-"

Moondancer stopped walking and stared at Twilight. "You made friends?"

"Crazy, huh?"

Luna walked up behind. "Twilight Sparkle and her friends are the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Moondancer. Didst thou not know?"

Moondancer scowled. She knew what the Elements of Harmony were, having made a study of obscure points of ancient history and arcane lore. She'd heard rumors that Twilight Sparkle had something to do with the defeat of Night Mare Moon, but hadn't quite believe them; discovering that they were true annoyed her immensely: here was yet another privilege Celestia had granted to her pampered favorite.

"That's why I'm still here in Ponyville," Twilight said, magicking a thick volume from the bookcase under the loft. "I'm studying the magic of friendship."

"The what?" Moondancer asked.

"Friendship," Twilight said. "It's the strongest form of magic, don't you know?"

Moondancer glanced at Luna. "Is that true?"

"It may be," Luna said quietly. She was gazing out the window at the stars.

Twilight opened the book as it floated before her. "Now, this is only my second slumber party ever, but I have a book here on the subject-"

"You have a book on how to have a slumber party?" Moondancer asked.

"Yes."

"You would."

Oblivious to Moondancer's sarcasm, Twilight flipped through the pages. "There's a list here of everything we should do. We can start by giving each other facials, and then do each other's manes, and then-"

Using her own magic, Moondancer snatched the book away and flung it to the floor below. "Forget lists. Learn to improvise."

"But if we don't follow the book, how will we know if we had fun?" Twilight cried.

Moondancer tossed her head. "Did you really manage to make friends here, Twilight, or are you lying to me?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I can't imagine anypony actually tolerating your company for more than a few minutes."

Twilight opened her mouth to answer, but no words came.

"At any rate, I'm tired," Moondancer said. "Although I'm sure you spent the day reading books and went to bed exactly at sundown, I was up all last night hosting my Nightmare Night bash, and I'd like to go to sleep. What do you say we postpone your little slumber party indefinitely, hmm?" She flung the covers into disarray and climbed into the bed.

Luna turned from the window. "If thou wishest to be our protégé, Moondancer, thou must learn tact. Do not expect us to be pleased with these sorts of foalish displays."

Under the covers, Moondancer frowned. She knew Luna expected her to apologize, but the idea irked her. Nonetheless, she managed to squeeze out the words. "Sorry, Twilight. I'm just tired."

Twilight, detecting no insincerity, perked up. "Oh, that's okay. I understand." She climbed into the bed as well.

Moondancer grit her teeth and turned away from Twilight. Sharing a bed all night with her rival would not be a pleasant experience.

The stars outside the window grew somehow brighter. Luna opened her wings, and a faint, cold blue luminescence, like an alcohol flame, enveloped her. Her mane of mist waved about her head, and her eyes dripped sparks. "This time is ours," she whispered, her voice strangely husky. "We are princess of the dark, of the night, of dreams. Sleep now, young pupils, and we shall show you the deep secrets of the dreaming world, which nopony hath touched in a thousand years. Under my hoof, ye will walk down the seventy steps to the world of Lighter Slumber, where ye will speak to the bearded priests Nasht and Kaman-Thath in the cavern of flame. We shall lead you down even the seven hundred steps to the Gate of Deeper Slumber, through which ye will pass to travel the enchanted wood where dwell the furtive Zoogs. Ye may journey thence to glimpse the ruins of ancient Sarnath, or visit the mighty city of Celephaïs in Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills, or behold the town of Ulthar beyond the River Skai, where ancient law decrees that nopony may kill a cat."

"Why would anypony want to kill a cat?" Twilight asked.

"Do not interrupt. Ye may find there the ancient Ponykotic Manuscripts, copies of which no longer exist in the waking world, which tell of formless Tsathoggua. Ye may, if ye be brave and foolish, speak with the Most Ancient One, he who guardeth the Gateway. Ye may dare ascend the peaks of Inganok where the faceless Night-Gaunts prowl. Ye might even, mayhap, behold the forbidden plain of Leng where it lieth in the cold wastes, or see the hidden sea beneath which the dead god Colthulhu doth slumber. And perchance ye will even at last unravel the deepest mysteries of the dreaded Equinomicon of Abdul Alhorsred, the mad Arabian."

"Are we doing all that tonight?" Twilight gasped. "That sounds exhausting!"

Moondancer, who had been enraptured by Luna's speech and its promise of forbidden knowledge, hissed, "Shut up, Twilight!"

Luna laughed. "Of course not, Twilight Sparkle. Thou wouldst perish if thou didst attempt even the most modest deeds in the Deeper Slumber. Thou shouldst not journey so far until thou hast the proper wards and sigils, nor until we teach thee the Voorish Sign. But tonight, if thou wilt, we shall indeed show thee the land of Lighter Slumber, where thou mayest journey with fewer perils."

"Light slumber? Well, that sounds restful."

Moondancer felt a wave of disappointment break over her. Luna spoke of all the dark secrets she craved, but then just as quickly denied them, and Moondancer was inclined to blame it on Twilight's obnoxious interjections.

Luna looked at the two students lying in the bed, and pondered. "Indeed, Twilight, it is possible thou hast all the protection thou needest, but Moondancer certainly hath not-"

Now Moondancer's disappointment turned to anger. She sat up, clutching the blankets in her front fetlocks. "What? Why? What does Twilight have that I don't?"

"She possesseth the greatest of the Elements of Harmony. Its power lieth inside her."

Moondancer snorted. "What is this Harmony?"

Luna, looking troubled, turned away and gazed out the window again. "We . . . I do not truly know. Celestia and I found them in the Everfree Forest, and we built our first capitol to house them, but Celestia doth understand them better than I."

Twilight was getting sleepy and thought she might be entering that land of Lighter Slumber soon. "Where did you and your sister come from, Princess?" she murmured.

Luna, still looking out the window, smiled. "Hast thou not heard? It was in the olden days, at the end of what thou callest the Classical Era, not long after the ponies first settled Equestria and drave the dragons from their borders. The sun and the moon did look each upon the other and fall in love: the sun was enamored of the moon's cool beauty, and the moon did take joy in the the sun's bright glory. Yet in the depths of their love, they suffered mightily, for they were eternally separated in the sky.

"Through his powers of divination, the king of the Unicorns learned of their plight, and he pitied them; yet he knew the cycle of night and day must not cease, lest the whole of this world fall to ruin. After consulting his astrologers, he decreed that only once every five hundred years, the sun and moon should meet in the sky in what thou now callest an eclipse.

"On their first meeting, sun and moon joyously embraced, and from their union Celestia was born. While still a foal, she descended to this world on a sunbeam. The Unicorns rejoiced over her as a gift from the heavens, and they reared her. She aged more slowly than a mortal, and when she was almost five hundred years old, she was still a filly, but discovered that she could raise and lower the sun herself with ease and without harm. The Unicorns, for whom this had been a torturous task, did gratefully allow her to take it from them.

"At the next eclipse, the sun and moon embraced yet again, and I was born. In the depth of night, I glided down a moonbeam to this world, and I too was reared by the tribe of Unicorns, and I learned to raise and lower the moon.

"Not long after I came into my power, Discord beseteth the land, and the ponies did suffer beneath his hoof. Our magic was strong enough that he might not touch us, yet it was not strong enough to destroy him. Celestia and I did journey many days in Everfree in hopes of finding that which might break his hold on Equestria, and it was in the depths of those dark woods that we discovered the stone Elements. Celestia and I did love each other, and by our love, we wielded Harmony against Discord and did defeat him."

"Then it isn't friendship that powers the Elements," Moondancer argued. "It's merely the prerequisite for using them, like the proper formula for a spell."

"Not so, Moondancer," Luna answered. "Friendship is also the source of their power. They are channels of the magic in the hearts of their users. Without true friendship, they are useless.

"After we had mastered these Elements and defeated our enemy, the rulers of the three tribes came to us in gratitude and lay their tiaras at our hooves: Commander Hailfire of the Pegasi, King August Vision of the Unicorns, and Chancellor Flanface of the Earth Ponies. They knelt before us and said unto us that thenceforth we should be their queens, but Celestia spake, saying, neigh, she would never hold so proud a title, but may be called princess only, and so we were."

Luna laughed a little. "It was at that same meeting that August Vision opened the storehouse of his heart and declared unto my sister his love. He said he had loved her even as a colt, loved her still, would always love her, and could love nopony else. He spake also, saying, he knew his suit was bell-bootless, for it was not meet that a goddess should return the love of a mere mortal.

"Yet, to his joy, Celestia answered his affections with her own, and they did wed, and the descendants of their offspring are the royal family."

Twilight had been drifting in and out of a pleasant half-sleep throughout Luna's story, and fancied that perhaps she could see the staircase into the dreaming that Luna had described. Luna's last words, however, brought her back to full wakefulness. "But, Princess, if it's love and friendship that make the Elements of Harmony work, how did Celestia use them by herself when- ?"

"I do not know, Twilight Sparkle, and that gap in my knowledge doth trouble me. My sister hath not told me this secret."

"And I guess I didn't realize the princess had once been married," Twilight mused, finding the idea oddly troubling. "I mean, I knew it, but as an historical thing. It didn't feel real, like it was a different princess."

"She watched as August Vision, and all her children, and her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren, aged and died," Luna whispered. "And we . . . I did watch the strain almost break her until the day in her chamber when she wrestled with some unseen power. After that, she was reconciled to death. But the nature of that, too, is hidden from me."

"Did you ever have a special somepony, Princess?" Twilight asked.

Luna looked away, a touch of red entering her dark cheeks. In her discomfort, she reverted to the royal "we."

"Nopony has ever . . . liked us that way."

"Oh, somepony might," Twilight answered. "Maybe he just finds you intimidating."

Luna glared.

Moondancer snorted. She would have rather heard about the dark secrets of magic than about boyfriends, but she thought this might be another chance to needle her rival. "What about you, Twilight?" she asked. "Have you ever had a very special somepony?"

Twilight suddenly looked embarrassed. She waved a hoof. "Who, me? Goodness, no! I'm too busy for that sort of thing! I have my studies, my books, my-"

"That's what I thought," Moondancer said. "Why, you wouldn't know what to do with a stallion if you got one."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight demanded. "I have read sixteen books on successful relationships-"

"That's what I mean," Moondancer answered. "If you had a special somepony, you'd probably give the poor fellow a schedule and a checklist: what gifts to buy you, where and when to take you on your dates, where and when and how to propose, where and when to have the wedding, where and when to cover you-"

Surprised by the intensity of her own anger, Twilight tackled Moondancer and knocked her to the floor, not only because her insults had grown vulgar, but because they were true: Twilight really had assumed a relationship could go more smoothly with a checklist.

They scuffled, kicking with their front hooves and biting each other's manes. The fight swiftly went to Moondancer, who was more athletically inclined. She thumped Twilght's head against the floor repeatedly and snarled, "Whinny! Go on, whinny for your dam, you little- !"

With a white burst of magic, Twilight evaporated. She reappeared on the other end of the loft and, with a hastily retooled levitation spell, hurled Moondancer into the wall.

"Oh, you want a magic fight?" Moondancer shouted, rolling to her hooves. "I'll give you a magic fight, Twilight Dorkle!" Nostrils flaring, she pawed the floor and snorted as her horn sizzled with energy.

A blue blast of cold light knocked both Twilight and Moondancer to the floor, and then pulled them up into the air by their tails. Paper-thin magical shields, conjured out of the air, enwrapped their horns and blocked their powers. Her face grave and her horn glowing, Luna stepped between them.

"We expected better," she said. With that, she released them and let them drop, but left the shields on their horns. "Now go to bed. We think there shall be no dream-quests tonight; it seems the students are not ready."

Sulking, and giving each other venomous glances, Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer climbed back into bed. They kicked each other a few times under the covers, but stopped when they noticed Luna glaring from across the room.

* * *

><p>Luna continued to watch the window. Exhausted from staying awake for two days and from the ebb of the adrenaline following their fight, both Twilight and Moondancer fell into a deep sleep. After their breathing grew heavy and low, a color not quite like any of the earth filtered down from the stars and hovered at the window before Luna's gaze.<p>

A crackle of energy ran the length of her horn. "Buzrael," she whispered. "Thou hast no quarry here. Be gone."

A cold, humorless laugh echoed from the weird color. It seeped through the window and poured like a heavy gas onto the middle of the floor, where it took on a wavering but discernible form, like a misshapen pony with cloven hooves and two horns, curved like a ram's, on its head.

"Oh, Princess Luna," Buzrael said in a high, metallic voice that sounded like the plink of a badly tuned instrument, "how lovely to see you again after all these many years."

"Thou hast no quarry here," Luna repeated. "I abjure thee, by all the-"

Buzrael interrupted her spell with a derisive cackle. "You have no spell to banish me, Princess."

"But these two have not invited thee by the formulae, so thou canst not touch them, and I am warded."

"So you are." Buzrael walked to the bed and looked at the slumbering ponies with an appreciative grin. "Ah, such pretty little ponies you teach." He poked a gaseous finger into Moondancer's head. "This one's near ripe, I think. She hungers for me. Perhaps it was she, and not you, who called me here tonight, eh?"

"She shall make no pact with thee."

"You shall have no say in the matter, Princess, or do you forget your own pact? Your blood is in my book, along with the blood of the foals whose throats you slit."

"We are not the same as we were then."

"Aren't you?" Leering, he walked toward her. "Your name- your true name- is not blotted out. Maybe you're no longer Night Mare Moon, my dearie, but you haven't quite repented, have you? Until you do, I know your name, Selene."

Luna started when Buzrael spoke her true name, and her heart pounded in her breast. But after a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief. "It is no good, Buzrael. Thy name, with the names of all the lords of hell, is carved into the flesh of my inner left thigh, and as long as it remains, thou hast no power over me."

Buzrael ran an immaterial finger along her right cheek. "Oh, my dear, dear Luna. Everypony like you makes the same mistake: you think we can't have you if you cast the right spells, never realizing that the very mummery you use to ward us off is the very chain that binds you to us. Perhaps I can't command you or hurt your body, but it doesn't matter: in the end, I will have you. We are very patient; it's the only virtue we have."

"I am immortal."

"Then you'll have so much more time to rot. Your realm makes you one with us: you are mistress of the moon, of Sulva, where the black frigates carry slaves to our gray servants, who treat them to exquisite tortures and devour their flesh in honor of my lord Azathoth. Free for less than two years, and already you again dabble in our arts. In time, you will be fully ours once more."

He glanced again at the bed and at Moondancer. "And here I see the one who must certainly become the first of the new Witch-Ponies and restore your glorious ancient order. Remember, Luna? Remember how they reveled, how they grew drunk on blood when you brought the Long Night and promised them the dark glory of endless debaucheries beneath the light of a never-setting moon? Do you remember what you did? Do you think you can ever truly be good again after what you did?" At the end, his voice rose in pitch and became a sneer.

Luna shook as she struggled to control her rage. "Leave us. We are not yours yet. Leave us."

Buzrael glided to the window and his airy body lost its shape, but his voice still sounded clear and cold as he floated out the window and into the sky: "Your former servants are with us now, and in time we shall bring them their mistress. We have patience, Princess. We shall wait."

**Next: Nightmare and Mailmare**


	7. Chapter 7:  Nightmare and Mailmare

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 7: Nightmare and Mailmare**

It was that time of year again. Rainbow Dash hated it, and she wasn't alone: every farmer in the Ponyville Weather District, which happened to be W.D. 40 in Cloudsdale's official weather partitioning and monitoring database, hated it, too. It was Fair Weather Tax Collection Day.

Rainbow, as Ponyville's official weather manager, was in charge of collecting the tax. Since she couldn't get other Pegasi to help her voluntarily, she every year selected somepony by lot. This year, the lot had fallen to Fluttershy.

So far, Rainbow and Fluttershy had been cussed out by no fewer than twelve farmers, and it was only half an hour after sunrise. Fluttershy, skittish by nature, was not taking it well. As they flew to Sweet Apple Acres, she continued making the argument she'd been making all morning.

"But, Rainbow, I don't even do weather jobs! I'm not on Cloudsdale's payroll. Town Hall pays me to take care of-"

"Doesn't matter, buddy. No Pegasus is exempt."

"Oh, but my little friends in the meadow-"

"Will get along fine without you for a day."

"I guess so, but darling little Angel Bunny is so finicky, he could-"

Rainbow sighed impatiently and dropped to the ground at the Apples' gate. "Look, Fluttershy, I hate tax collection. Everypony hates taxes. That's why they call 'em 'taxes' and not 'ice cream sundaes,' okay? But, darn it, if I gotta do it, I'd rather have you along than somepony else. Besides, everypony's less likely to yell at you."

Fluttershy landed beside Rainbow and blushed. "But everypony is yelling at me."

Rainbow nodded and sighed again. "Well, yeah. That's prob'ly cuz Cloudsdale almost doubled the rate."

They knocked on the Apples' front door, and Big Macintosh opened it. When he saw Rainbow, he blinked in surprise, swallowed, stood still, and waited for her to speak.

Rainbow ducked her head and nickered. "Hey, Big Mac."

He nickered back. "Eyup."

"Um . . . sorry to bother you, but we're here to collect your fair weather tax."

"Eyup."

Rainbow nodded, trying to coax him into saying something else. She always found conversations with Big Mac awkward. "Yeah, well, it's thirty bits an acre this year, and-"

Rainbow could hear somepony galloping from somewhere deeper in the house. In a moment, Applejack pushed up beside Big Mac and cried, "Thirty whole bits an acre? Now just an apple-pickin' minute, RD, it was eighteen last year-"

Rainbow Dash reared and held up her front hooves in supplication. "I know! I know! We thought it was too much, too, but the weather bureau sets the rate-"

"But thirty bits?"

"Look, AJ, they know how many farms there are in W.D. 40, and they know how many acres those farms have. If I don't send the right amount of money to Cloudsdale, I'm in trouble."

"Those weather ponies think we're made o' money? Sweet Apple Acres is barely squeakin' by as it is."

"Oh, um, Applejack, if it's too much trouble," Fluttershy whispered, "maybe we can come back-"

"Hay no," Rainbow said, cutting her off. "There's no point. Let's get it over with. Thirty bits an acre. That comes out to . . ." She estimated the price in her head, paused in shock, and grinned sheepishly.

"That comes out to plenty more'n we got on hand, Rainbow Dash," Applejack said. "'Less Granny's got a shed full o' gold she ain't told us about, we ain't got no twenty-eight thousand bits lyin' around."

"I know, pal, but we got an installment plan."

Applejack sighed, an irritated frown on her face. "I guess it ain't yer fault. You two had breakfast?"

"No," Rainbow said.

"C'mon in, then. Mornin' chores are done, an' Granny's makin' apple flapjacks. I figger a lousy job like the one you got today could make anypony mighty hungry."

Applejack turned around and walked toward the kitchen. Rainbow drooled openly, flapped her wings, rubbed her front hooves together, and floated after. Silently, Big Mac turned and trotted along beside her. Rainbow frowned in annoyance: he was awfully close, and she was afraid she'd accidentally hit him with a wing. It probably wouldn't hurt either of them if she did, but she didn't want him ruffling her feathers.

As Rainbow flew down the hall, a warm, cozy, cinnamon-laced scent reached her nose, and she sighed. A plate stacked high with Granny Smith's homemade flapjacks laden with fresh butter and maple syrup would almost make up for the rest of the morning.

When she reached the kitchen, Rainbow dropped herself into a chair at the table while Fluttershy lingered in the kitchen doorway. Applejack walked to the back porch to check on little Apple Bloom, who was churning butter. Big Mac shuffled back and forth between his hooves for a moment, but then finally sat down at the table next to Rainbow.

She snorted. He was too close again. She inched her chair away from him.

At the range, the elderly Granny Smith was holding a cast-iron skillet in her false teeth and expertly flipping a flapjack. Because the autumn morning was nippy, a fire was crackling in the stone-lined fireplace, making the room pleasantly hot. The warm air and the heavy smell of cooking made Rainbow sleepy, and she rued the fact that she would almost certain miss her usual nap this afternoon, since she'd probably still be collecting taxes.

Granny Smith looked up. Rainbow grinned and waved a hoof at her.

Granny dropped the skillet on the stove with a bang and scowled. Moving slowly, her joints creaking, she pointed a withered hoof at Rainbow and said, "Pegasus! You come t' rob us of all our hard-earned money, an' now ya drop in uninvited fer grub? Ain't no Pegasus welcome in this house on tax day!"

Rainbow's stomach rumbled and her daydream of hot pancakes evaporated. "Ah, c'mon, Granny!"

Granny banged the skillet on the stove again.

Applejack and Apple Bloom walked in from the porch. "Now, holdjer horses, Granny," said Applejack. "You know that ain't right."

"Eh?"

Applejack said it louder: "That ain't right!" She turned to Big Mac. "That ain't right, is it, Big Mac?"

Big Mac glanced at Rainbow. "Nope," he said.

"Ain't right?" Granny cried. "I tell ya what ain't right! It ain't right fer some young whippersnapper t' come in here an' demand all th' money we make from workin' this 'ere soil, that's what ain't right! No Pegasus ever done a full day o' work in 'er life!"

She walked toward Rainbow. "I seen this one! Ever' afternoon, she's out nappin' in one of our trees! Lazy, good-fer-nothin' Pegasus! Makes a little weather in th' mornin' an' spends th' rest of 'er day sleepin' an' goofin' off while we Earth Ponies work! An' we work hard, too!"

"Granny, I don't set the tax!" Rainbow shouted.

"No, you just add to it, you little grafter! How else you get the money t' live in that fancy-shmancy cloud palace o' yours?"

Now Rainbow was getting angry, and she stood from the table. "I built that place with my own hooves!" She turned to Fluttershy, who was still in the doorway, but was now actually in the fetal position on the floor. "C'mon, Fluttershy, we don't have to listen to this." She grabbed Fluttershy's tail in her teeth and dragged her down the hall to the front door.

Granny yelled after them as they retreated. "Back in th' good ol' days, the Pegasi were warriors! They protected us! Now they just want our money!"

As she banged open the door, Rainbow dropped Fluttershy and yelled back over her shoulder, even though it was unlikely Granny, who was hard of hearing, would understand her from that distance: "We still bring you your rain and sunshine, Granny Smith! Don't forget that!"

Rainbow flapped her wings and flew up the path from the farmhouse to the road, fuming. Fluttershy had to gallop to keep up. Just as they reached the gate, they heard Big Mac's deep voice behind them.

"Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow turned. Big Macintosh was standing in the path. Early morning sunshine angled through the red and yellow leaves of the apple trees, dappling his red coat. The light made the freckles stand out on his cheeks, and his large, heavy hooves were chipped and dusty from his morning of work. He was thickly built; he looked heavy and slow, yet the surrounding trees with their fall leaves and the dilapidated old farmhouse behind leant him a peculiar air of rustic nobility. His expression was sad and slightly embarrassed. For a brief moment, he reminded Rainbow, absurdly, of her pet tortoise Tank.

He didn't say anything else after he said her name, but Rainbow understood his wordless presence as an apology.

"It's okay, Big Mac," she said. "Really. Go have breakfast."

He dipped his head and neighed softly. Then he turned and walked back to the house.

* * *

><p>Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy headed up the road to the next farm. Normally, Rainbow would have flown there in an instant, but now she walked: in spite of her usual love of speed, she wasn't eager to get there quickly.<p>

"I can't believe it!" she grumbled. "I thought the Apples wouldn't yell at us, at least."

"Granny Smith doesn't usually say things like that," Fluttershy whispered. "She must have a lot of stress right now."

"She's got a lot of jerk right now. Did you hear her? Smooth-mouthed old nag! Why, if she were younger, I'd-"

"Rainbow! Don't say that!"

Rainbow ran to the fence alongside the road, jumped onto it, lifted her front hooves to her mouth, and yelled into the orchard. "Old nag! Old nag!" The Apples' farmhouse was out of sight now, and it was unlikely anypony heard her.

Rainbow jumped from the fence, kicked it angrily, and walked back to the road. "You know what? Forget this. I'm not collecting any more taxes until I get some pancakes." She turned and headed for town.

"Oh," Fluttershy said, sitting down in the middle of the road. "Should I wait here? I guess I can wait here-"

"Come on, Fluttershy!" Rainbow shouted. Fluttershy quickly got up and followed.

* * *

><p>Sometime well after sunrise, the Pegasus Derpy Hooves stumbled out of bed, brushed her blonde mane, ran into a doorpost by accident, crashed into a wall, and staggered downstairs to the kitchen where Carrot Top and little Dinky were already having breakfast. Dinky was a young Unicorn filly, Derpy's own daughter, who had inherited her dam's gray coat and yellow mane and her sire's magic horn. Carrot Top was a perpetually frazzled orange-maned Earth Pony.<p>

"Morning, Mama!" Dinky shouted.

"Good morning," Derpy answered as she went to the refrigerator. She pulled it open and said, "We got any muffins?"

Carrot Top scowled over her bowl of Oatie-Os. "Those are mine! I need them for a picnic later, so don't touch them!"

Derpy turned from the fridge with a crumble-topped apple muffin in her hoof. She was about to bite into it when Carrot Top catapulted from her seat to snatch it away. "No, Derpy! Written Script is taking me on a picnic later and I'm bringing muffins and you can't have it!" After a short scuffle, Carrot Top managed to knock Derpy to the floor and wrestle the muffin away. Very carefully, she put it back in the fridge with the others, closed the refrigerator door, and took a deep breath to calm herself. Being Derpy's roommate required a lot of patience.

"Besides, Derpy," Carrot Top said, "aren't you late for work?"

"But today's Sunday!" Derpy said from the floor.

"No, Sunday was yesterday."

"It's multiple days this week."

Carrot Top closed her eyes and took another deep breath for patience. When she opened her eyes, she found Derpy in the fridge again.

"No, Derpy!"

Carrot Top grabbed Derpy's tail with her mouth and dragged her across the kitchen while explaining around clenched teeth, "Look, you didn't have to work two days ago because that was Nightmare Night. You didn't have to work yesterday because that was Sunday. Today is Monday, and you work on Mondays, don't you?"

"Ohhhh," Derpy said as she slid across the floor. "But I saw two Sundays on this week when I looked at the calendar last night."

"And that," Carrot Top said when she had let go of Derpy's tail, "is because your eyes are screwed up, dear. You see two of everything."

"That's why everything's twice as good." Derpy jumped to her feet, but getting up too quickly made her dizzy, and she fell to the floor again.

At the table, Dinky giggled. "You're funny, Mama!"

"Look," Carrot Top said, rubbing a hoof against her forehead, "just go deliver mail, will you? I'll make sure Dinky gets to school. And . . . oh, goodness, she'll be late if she doesn't go now. Dinky, scoot."

Dinky jumped from her seat and trotted toward the front door. "I'm gonna tell Miss Cheerilee we got two Sundays this week!" she shouted.

When she had gone, Carrot Top turned to Derpy with an expression of pity and said, "She really admires you, Derpy. Can't you at least try to be responsible? For her sake? It's the least you can do, seeing as how she doesn't have a sire."

"Everypony has a sire," Derpy said, still lying on the floor. "We learned that in sixth grade, I think."

"You know what I mean, Derpy!" Carrot Top yelled. She shook her head. "Look, I have to go, too. Get to work, okay?"

Carrot Top walked into the front hall. When she heard Derpy clamoring around in the kitchen, she shouted back over her shoulder, "And stay out of my muffins!"

* * *

><p>For some reason known only to Mayor Mare, most of Ponyville's mail ponies had eye problems. Therefore, the Ponyvillains went through a daily ritual known as the Changing of the Mail, during which they visited neighbors to exchange mis-delivered letters as well as to exchange gossip and, of course, complain about the lousy mail service.<p>

Every weekday, Derpy Hooves did her best, albeit unwittingly, to ensure that the Changing of the Mail would happen. She was unaware of what part she played in keeping all of Ponyville's citizens on such close and friendly terms with each other, though she undoubtedly would have been happy if she had known.

Nopony bothered to inform her, however. Most ponies didn't talk to her. Most ponies looked down their muzzles at her. Most ponies considered her bad for morale and bad for morals. That wasn't because she was wall-eyed, and it wasn't because her clumsiness made her a walking and flying disaster area.

It was because of Dinky.

Derpy had been little more than a filly when she met Stud Muffin, a roguish bay Unicorn stallion with a wild, spiky chestnut mane and a winning smile. She had grown up being bullied by other children because of her eyes and scolded by teachers because of her poor performance in school, but Stud Muffin had been so sweet to her; he was perhaps the first pony outside her family who had ever shown her much kindness, and she had been too naïve to understand why.

After the happiest and most thrilling three months of Derpy's life, Stud Muffin had skipped town, leaving her alone and pregnant.

Though the discovery that Derpy was unmarried and with foal began as a family crisis, it became, through a chain of events that was the fault of no one pony in particular, a public scandal that dominated conversation in Ponyville for all eleven months of her pregnancy. Although Derpy understood these matters only dimly, she nonetheless remembered feeling deeply ashamed when she walked down the street one day, heavy in foal, and heard a dam lean down to her young daughter and whisper, "See, you be a good filly or you'll end up like her."

Derpy still remembered Stud Muffin fondly. Dinky knew nothing about him. Carrot Top, who had taken Derpy in as a roommate out of charity, occasionally referred to Stud Muffin as "that philandering deadbeat."

In common speech and in Equestrian law, a filly who had foaled was a mare, an adult, and was therefore legally able to work full-time. Although Carrot Top had been willing to help out, especially in the early days, she also insisted that Derpy pay her share of the rent, buy her share of the food, and supply most of Dinky's needs. This seemed reasonable, but Derpy had a difficult time holding down a job. She worked as a mover for a while, but the boss fired her after she dropped several pieces of furniture on somepony. She managed to join the weather team, but Rainbow Dash fired her after she accidentally destroyed Town Hall while lightning-bucking during a scheduled thunderstorm. Desperate for work, Derpy went to Mayor Mare and begged when a position for mail pony opened up.

Mayor Mare took pity. Aware of Derpy's plight, and figuring Derpy couldn't be much worse than the mail ponies Ponyville already had, she hired her, and she quietly refused to fire her no matter how many complaints she received.

Derpy performed her job, as she performed everything, with gusto, sincerity, and incompetency. After polishing off Carrot Top's entire muffin hoard, she flew to the Ponyville Post Office, a modest two-room brick building, where the sorters had been up since early that morning dividing the mail between the various routes. Derpy galloped into the back room, skidded to a stop in front of the postmaster's desk, and saluted with a hoof to her forehead. The postmaster looked up at her over his spectacles and shook his head.

"Derpy Hooves, you are late."

"Yes, sir!" Derpy proudly boomed.

The postmaster paused, nonplussed. "That's . . . not a good thing, Derpy."

"Yes, sir, General Postmaster, sir!"

"That's 'Postmaster General,' a position well above mine, and you don't have to call me sir."

"Yes, ma'am!"

The postmaster lowered his head and rubbed a hoof against his poll. Derpy regularly gave him headaches. "I'm afraid to ask, but would you care to explain why you are late?"

"Ma'am, I just don't know what went wrong, ma'am."

"No, of course you don't. That's the story of your life, isn't it, Derpy? And that's why you never learn from your mistakes. Do me and everypony else a favor and grab your mailbags and get to your route. Quickly, please."

Derpy spun around, tripped over her own hooves, and crashed to the floor.

"And carefully, too," the postmaster added with a sigh.

After smacking her face on the second doorpost of the day, Derpy managed to fly out the door, her saddlebags full of mail secure on her back.

She had, with great effort and repeated coaching from Carrot Top, successfully memorized her daily route. First, she flew to Rose's house. Derpy reached into her mailbag and, with a lot of squinting, discovered most of the letters with Rose's name on them. She stuffed them in the box. She also found a magazine advertising flower seeds; it wasn't addressed to Rose, but Derpy stuck it in the mailbox too, figuring Rose would like it.

Her next visit happened to be to her own house. None of the mail was for her, but several letters were addressed to Carrot Top. She put those in the box and then put some extra letters in, too, as a thank-you for buying all those delicious muffins.

After that, her heart started hammering in her breast because her next stop was Dr. Whooves's house.

Dr. Whooves was a clockmaker and a time-study pony. In addition to making some of the most sophisticated and precise clocks and watches in all of Equestria, he studied various machines to improve their efficiency, and he also taught workers of all kinds how to do their jobs more quickly and safely. Derpy thought he was absolutely amazing, and because of his bay coat and his deep brown, spiky mane, he also reminded her of Stud Muffin.

Dr. Whooves's house looked like a giant cuckoo clock covered in other, smaller cuckoo clocks. Dr. Whooves had constructed his own clock tower on the front of the house, and every hour on the hour, the clock face opened and two mechanical ponies wearing wedding clothes popped out of it and kissed while a third mechanical pony rang a bell. The yard was full of birdhouses designed to look like cuckoo clocks, each of which had a working clock built into it and a living space for real birds. Running through the yard was a stream with an artificial waterfall that turned a wheel powering a giant water clock. So precise was Dr. Whooves in his designs, and so fanatical was he about keeping his machines fine-tuned, that every clock in the yard or on the house showed precisely the same time, and each one ticked or tocked at exactly the same moment, so Dr. Whooves's house pulsed constantly with a rhythmic, mechanical beat.

Even the mailbox was encased in a functioning clock. Derpy was so engrossed in gazing up at Dr. Whooves's wonderful house that she smacked right into the mailbox, knocking it over. When it hit the ground, she heard something inside it make a crunching noise, and then it stopped ticking.

Derpy stared forlornly down at the broken mailbox. A few tears ran from her eyes. She pulled letters at random out of her bag and stuffed them in, hoping maybe she could make it up to Dr. Whooves for breaking his mailbox by giving him extra mail.

The front door swung open and Dr. Whooves ran out. He had learned to run on his hind legs for short distances so he could tie his bow tie as he left his home, saving himself approximately 34.3 seconds every morning. When he saw Derpy leaning over the broken mailbox and weeping as she filled it full of random letters, he was so surprised that he lost his concentration and fell forward onto his face.

Jumping back to his hooves- all four of them, this time- he ran to her, yelling.

"Derpy Hooves! What do you think you are doing, you silly filly?"

"Oh, Dr. Whooves!" Derpy cried. "I'm so sorry! I just don't know what went wrong! I broke your mail clock thingy-"

"I can see that, girl!" he shouted. He shoved her out of the way and pulled out some of the letters she had been pushing into his box. "What is this? Cherry Berry? This isn't for me. Heartstrings? This isn't for me, either. Blueberry Ice? Do I look like Blueberry Ice to you? Oh, you ridiculous mailmare. You are easily the worst mailmare this town has ever had, and that is saying something."

Sitting on the ground, Derpy sniffled and wiped at her face.

"I will have you know I already contacted the post office and had my mail stopped for this week, a fact of which you should be aware. I am traveling to Fillydelphia today to meet with Miss Inkamena Pie, a very important engineer, to see about improving some of her latest designs. I need to catch the train, and you, Miss Hooves, have already made me one minute and twenty-three seconds later than I should be. Now, I do not have time to re-deliver all this mail today, so I suggest you take all of it and make the valiant attempt, however miserably you will fail at it, to deliver it to the correct ponies. Is that really too hard for you? Can you not get this basic mail-delivery concept to lodge somewhere in that pea-sized brain? Or are you really good for nothing except cranking out illegitimate children?"

In his indignation, Dr. Whooves reared up onto his hind legs and promptly tied his bow tie in 2.44 seconds, a personal best. Nodding in satisfaction at his own virtuosity and casting another frown in Derpy's direction, he walked away, leaving her sitting by his ruined mailbox, crying.

* * *

><p>Workponies were already fixing the front door of Sugarcube Corner, and Pinkie, under stern orders from Mrs. Cake, had been up all night cleaning. It was a little worse for wear, but Sugarcube Corner was open for business at sunrise as usual, though all the ponies who took their breakfast or brunch there had to put up with the hammering from the repair work on the door.<p>

Luna had sent Twilight Sparkle and Moondancer away, as Severin wished to speak to Spike and the princess alone, so the two students now sat at a table in Sugarcube Corner where they drank lattes, ate from plates loaded with eggs, haybrowns, and corned corn, and stared daggers at each other.

They fumbled as they ate: like most Unicorns, they were accustomed to using levitation spells to manipulate small objects such as coffee cups or utensils, but Luna still hadn't removed the magic shields from their horns. Therefore, they had to eat Earth Pony-style, with the result that they spilled frequently and ended up wearing large portions of their meals.

Moondancer stared forlornly down at her latte. She wanted to magick the cup to her lips, and she couldn't figure out how to get her hoof into the fine china handle, so she had to drink by grabbing the cup rim with her teeth and tipping her head back. About a quarter of the coffee went into her mouth and another quarter ran into her nose while the rest spilled onto her breast and heartgirth.

She put the cup down and sighed. "Oddly enough, I think this is giving me more respect for Earth Ponies."

Pinkie Pie was working the counter this morning, but she was having trouble doing her job because Twilight and Moondancer's attempts at eating kept sending her to the floor in paroxysms of snorts and giggles. After seeing Moondancer spill, Pinkie bounced over to the table and, with a huge grin, said, "Oh, Moondancer? Can I get you another coffee? Please tell me you want another coffee!" She collapsed, laughing.

Moondancer, though splattered with her latte, tossed her head and smiled. "Of course I'd like another, Pinkie Pie. After all, I wasn't able to drink most of the last one."

Pinkie snorted and giggled again as she bounced and skipped and turned a cartwheel on her way to the kitchen. Moondancer watched her every move.

Twilight found a better method: instead of trying to pick up the cup with her mouth, she leaned back in her chair, grasped the sides of the cup between her front hooves, and lifted it to her lips. Unfortunately, she leaned back too far and the chair tipped. Twilight ended up on the floor with all of her latte on her face.

Pinkie, expertly balancing a new cup of coffee on one of her own front hooves, bounded out of the kitchen and, seeing Twilight, burst into a new fit of laughter. "I want to play, too!" she cried, and dumped the contents of the cup over her own head.

"I'm not paying for that," said Moondancer.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy made their way around the workponies reconstructing the door and walked into the shop. "Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow shouted. "I need pancakes. Please tell me you have pancakes!"

Pinkie sat down on the floor with the cup on her head and coffee dripping down her mane. "Hmm . . . no. But I have cinnamon rolls."

"Okay, I'll take those."

Pinkie spun like a miniature tornado, using the inertia to rise to her feet. When she had stopped spinning, her mane was dry. She flipped over in the air and sprang into the kitchen.

Rainbow looked down at Twilight, who was still lying on the floor with her cup on her face. "Oh, hey, Twilight. Drinking problem?"

"Don't ask," Twilight answered.

Rainbow pulled another chair up to the table and glanced back and forth from Moondancer to Twilight Sparkle. "So, you two have a food fight or what? I mean, that's awesome and all, but I never figured Twilight for the food-fighting type."

"I'm sorry," Moondancer said with a smile that had grown increasingly fragile as the morning had worn on, "but I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Moondancer."

Rainbow gave her a friendly slap of the hoof. "I'm Rainbow Dash. You may have heard of me. Best flier out of Cloudsdale, world-class athlete, winner of the Best Young Fliers Competition, and, of course, all-around-"

"Braggart?" Moondancer asked.

"Brag- wait, what?"

Moondancer snorted and slurped an egg from her plate.

Twilight groaned in exasperation and picked herself up from the floor. She set her chair upright and climbed back into it. "Maybe you could give the mean mouth a rest, Moondancer. If you want to insult me, fine, but you can leave my friends-"

"Oh, this is one of your friends," Moondancer said, her grin growing wider and a shade nastier. "I was so curious to know what quality of company you keep . . . or what quality of company is willing to keep you, rather. Hm, Rainbow Dash, was it? I think I did see you at the reception last night. So nice to meet you. And your mane is such an interesting fashion statement."

"Hey, I'm not the one wearing coffee," Rainbow answered.

Moondancer's grin broke slightly.

"Yo, Pinkie!" Rainbow yelled toward the back. "Let's have those cinnamon rolls! And bring another of whatever Moondancer is wearing!"

Wild laughter came from the kitchen.

"Fluttershy," Rainbow said, "don't be a stranger. Come meet Twilight's old school chum."

Fluttershy had been hanging back, inspecting a set of lollypops on display near the counter, hoping the others would ignore her.

"C'mon, Fluttershy."

Reluctantly, Fluttershy walked over, afraid to meet Moondancer's eye, afraid to be the object of Moondancer's withering scorn.

Moondancer looked Fluttershy up and down and wrote her off. So these were Twilight Sparkle's friends: a jock and a wimp.

. . . And Pinkie Pie. Moondancer still wanted to believe this pink pony with the absurd antics was a Chaoticist, but she knew she would need more observation to be sure.

Moondancer moved her gaze back to Twilight Sparkle, wondering if it were possible that Twilight really didn't know what Pinkie was, or could be. Of course, Moondancer had made eldritch lore her specialty, Chaoticists were obscure, and most folkloric authorities dismissed them as an old mare's tale. It was entirely possible Twilight simply hadn't run across any references to them, or hadn't given those references credence.

But then another possibility struck her: Twilight claimed Celestia had sent her to Ponyville to study friendship, but perhaps she had really sent her for another reason. Perhaps Celestia had sent her specifically to study the Chaoticist. After all, the claim that Twilight was supposed to be goofing off with friends for academic purposes was hard to swallow, but if one of those friends was a creature with uncontrollable powers, then this study of the so-called "magic of friendship" could be a cover for Twilight's real purpose.

The possibility immediately ruined Moondancer's appetite. Last night, she had believed she finally had the chance to surpass Twilight Sparkle, but now it appeared likely that Twilight had beaten her once again, and once again it was because Twilight received unfair favors from the princess.

She had only one option that she could see: blow Twilight's cover and ruin her research.

Moondancer leaned her chin on a front hoof and affected innocence. "So, Twilight, this pink friend of yours-"

"Pinkie Pie?"

"Quite energetic, isn't she?"

Twilight sighed, but then laughed. "Yes, you could say that. I hope Ambassador Severin doesn't have any hard feelings about last night."

"Let Princess Luna deal with that."

"I will. Yes, Pinkie's a real bundle of energy."

Moondancer cleared her throat. "Have you by any chance noticed evidence that she's precognitive?"

Twilight blinked. "Well, actually-"

Pinkie leapt from the kitchen with a tray of cinnamon rolls balanced on one hoof and a cup of coffee balanced on the other. She landed on her hind legs, went down onto her hocks, and slid right up to the table where she put the food down in front of Rainbow Dash, who started drooling again.

"Finally," Rainbow said. "You have no idea how awful it is to take ponies' money on an empty stomach. Fluttershy, dig in." Rainbow grabbed up a sticky, iced cinnamon roll in one hoof and opened her mouth to take a bite.

Pinkie Pie's tail twitched. "Whoa! Pinkie Sense!" she shouted. "Pinkie Sense!"

Twilight and Rainbow both looked up at the ceiling in alarm. Fluttershy reached across the table for a cinnamon roll and accidentally knocked the new cup of coffee onto Rainbow's abdomen.

Rainbow yelped, leapt backwards, and fell over the back of her chair, slapping the cinnamon roll she was holding into her own face.

"Oh! Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy cried. "I'm so sorry."

"Well," said Moondancer, "I'm glad to see Twilight and I aren't the only ponies who've taken to wearing coffee."

"It's stopped!" Pinkie cried cheerfully. "I guess it was Dashie's coffee that was supposed to fall . . . or Dashie. Either way, it stopped!"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Moondancer demanded.

"My Pinkie Sense," Pinkie said. "My tail twitches when something's about to fall." She skipped toward the back. "I'm gonna bring you another coffee. The coffee today is hilarious."

Trembling with excitement, Moondancer rose from her seat. "Chaoticist," she gasped.

Twilight stood up as well, staring hard at Moondancer. "What did you say?"

They were interrupted when Derpy, her head hung in sorrow, walked through the front door. Pinkie whirled around and waved. "Hiya, Derpy! You here for your morning muffin break?"

"Yeah," Derpy said quietly.

Pinkie ran to Derpy, placed a hoof under Derpy's chin, and raised her head.

Pinkie gasped. "A frown! No frowns allowed! C'mon, Derpy, let's see that smile." She grabbed Derpy's lips and stretched them out and up.

"I can't smile right now, sorry," Derpy said after she had regained control of her lips.

Pinkie tossed Derpy onto her back and walked toward the kitchen. "I have a special batch of banana muffins made up," Pinkie said, "and you can tell your auntie Pinkie Pie all about it."

Derpy raised her head so quickly her eyes spun. "You're my aunt? Pinkie, I never knew!"

Pinkie and Derpy disappeared into the kitchen. Rainbow Dash shook her head, rolled her eyes, and made a second attempt to bite a cinnamon roll.

She was interrupted when Pinky angrily stomped back out of the kitchen, marched up to her, and pointed a hoof in her face. "Rainbow Dashie," Pinkie demanded, "how come you fired Derpy Hooves from the weather team?"

Rainbow blinked. "Um . . . because she's a hazard to public health and safety?" Again, she opened her mouth to take a bite, but Pinkie swiped the cinnamon roll away from her.

"Ah, what gives, Pinkie?"

Pinkie leaned into Rainbow's space, glaring fiercely into her eyes. Rainbow returned the stare with a confused, nervous grin.

Pinkie stuck out her tongue and licked Rainbow's cheek.

"Yeaaagh!" Rainbow catapulted backwards over the table, knocking the food, as well as Twilight and Moondancer, to the floor. She backed up against the wall as if fending off an attack. "What was that?"

"You had icing on your face," Pinkie explained. "But that's not the point. I wanna know why you fired Derpy!"

"I told you."

"Well, if you hadn't fired her, she wouldn't be a mailmare and Dr. Whooves wouldn't have yelled at her this morning!"

"Doctor who?"

"Dr. Whooves!"

Rainbow took a breath, calmed down, and nodded her head. "You know what?" She spun around and gave a powerful kick with her hind legs, knocking the table across the room, where it smashed into the display counter and shattered it.

"That's what," she said.

"Rainbow!" Twilight cried in shock.

Rainbow shoved Pinkie in the breast with a hoof. "I am sick and tired of everypony yelling at me today! It is not my fault Cloudsdale raised the tax, and it is not my fault Derpy can't buck lightning, and, darn it, I just want some pancakes!"

She walked to the front door and knocked over two of the workponies who had been fixing the door.

"Come on, Fluttershy!" Rainbow yelled.

"Um, no," Fluttershy said quietly.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder. Fluttershy stood quietly in the middle of the shop, her expression resolute.

"Fine," Rainbow said. "Whatever." She spread her wings and took off.

* * *

><p>Luna galloped through the Everfree Forest, Severin on her back. Luna wore an intricately carved black leather saddle with silver trappings, but she wore neither bit nor bridle, so Severin was obliged to hold onto her long mane: it was like grasping the night itself, like wrapping his hands around a cold wind, and the stars glittering in her misty hair tingled against his skin.<p>

She was extremely fast, but the ride was nonetheless remarkably smooth. She ran with precision and grace, but with such power that her ornate silver bell boots shattered tree roots and smashed rocks to powder wherever they landed. She leapt shrubs and fallen trees and bounded lightly over streams, and Severin was often obliged to duck when she slipped under low branches.

Half buried in her hair, he leaned low over her neck and laughed.

"Severin," she said with annoyance, "thou art trying to steer."

"Forgive me, Your Highness. I know you're no dressage horse, but I've ridden so much, it's become instinctive. Just ignore whatever I'm doing."

"We would, but it's distracting."

"I notice you have excellent impulsion even at a full gallop. You're a fair runner."

"And thou art a fair rider," Luna admitted.

"When I first saw you, I thought you were built for running."

"That's not all we're built for." Luna put on a fresh burst of speed. The forest opened up and the ground dropped suddenly away. Luna leapt, spread her wings wide, and shot up into the air.

Severin laughed again, louder this time.

"Hast thou flown before?"

"Once, on a Dactyloid, but it was nothing like riding a Pegasus."

"We are no Pegasus, Severin. We are a princess!" She corkscrewed through the air, threatening to dislodge him from her back. She burst through a cloudbank, sending a shock of cold across both their bodies and leaving them coated in a thin mist.

Luna dropped onto the cloud and cantered across it. "Do not try to dismount. The clouds will not support thee."

"I'm well aware."

She raised her gait to a gallop again, flapped her wings, and rose. She increased her speed and shot upward until the air was so thin, Severin gasped.

Aware that he would be unable to breathe if she went much higher, she folded her wings to her sides and dropped like a stone. They shot down through the same clouds, leaving behind themselves a stream of white.

Sensing an upswell, Luna opened her wings again and arrested her descent, shooting suddenly upward. Holding her wings open and allowing herself to coast, she made wide circles, spiraling gradually toward the ground.

Spotting a flower-speckled meadow, Luna headed for it and swooped low, the toes of her hooves just brushing the tips of the grass. Still a few inches from the ground, she began moving her legs at a gait matching her speed. Then she touched down, landing in a gallop, but quickly dropping to a canter, a trot, and at last a walk. When she reached the middle of the meadow, she stopped and lay down.

Severin rolled from her back and spread-eagled on the grass, staring up at the sky, struggling to catch his breath.

Luna was breathing hard as well, and her coat was now damp with sweat. "Thy visit hath been good for us. We have not run nor flown like that in a long while."

Gazing at her, he reached out a hand and laid it against her muzzle. She snorted and pulled her head away.

He grinned. "Are you headshy? How do you fence that way?"

She rose to her hooves and turned away from him. "Thou hast grown too familiar, Severin."

"You're the one who started calling me by my name, Your Highness."

She snorted again. Moving a few feet from him, she sat on the grass again and magicked a set of divination cards from her saddlebag. With her front hooves, she lay several cards out on the ground and began turning them over.

"I certainly hope you're not telling my fortune," Severin said, rising to his feet.

"Not without thy permission, Ambassador."

"Ah, I'm back to 'Ambassador,' then. Whose fortune is it? That student of yours?"

"Thou art perceptive," Luna said, keeping her eyes on her cards.

"I've been trained so. She's an ambitious one, I think. She watches your every move, not like a pupil trying to learn from a master, but more like a predator tracking prey."

"She is an excellent student."

"I don't doubt it."

"But the very traits that lead her to excel in the classroom could destroy her under our tutelage. We may have made a mistake." Luna turned the last of her cards, looking over it carefully. "Last night, we charted her horoscope, and, we confess, we looked into her dreams."

"Rather intrusive for a teacher, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Remind me never to sleep again when you're in the vicinity."

Luna laughed. "When is thy birthdate, Ambassador?"

"I would never tell you, and now I feel lucky that I don't actually know it myself. I don't believe the stars determine my destiny, and I don't want you telling me otherwise."

"Then we shall not," Luna answered, still staring at the cards.

"What do you see in the future of this Moondancer of yours?"

"The same things we saw in her horoscope and in her dreams."

"And those are?"

"Fire and blood."

Severin paused. "Brought about by what?"

"That we could not say."

"Not a typical destiny for anyone- how do you say it?- 'anypony' in Equestria, is it?"

"We could not say."

Severin stretched out his arms and gazed up into the sky. "Couldn't you? Here in the peaceable kingdom where the undying princesses reign, where the lion lies down with the lamb- ?"

"You would find our lions and lambs are as antagonistic as anywhere else, Severin. In fact, the sheep have been requesting more protections, as they are often harassed by manticores."

"There was a man of my race many years ago whose name is forgotten, though legend has it he was fleet of foot, and he wrote a whimsical story of a man's travels in imaginary lands, each of which was, apparently, a satirical take on the land in which he himself lived. Toward the end of his book, he wrote of a race of peaceable and gentle people who had no word for wrongdoing, living in a perfect society knowing nothing of war. I have always found it amusing and perhaps prescient that, with no knowledge of Equestria, he nonetheless depicted these imaginary perfect people as resembling horses."

"Seemeth our land so pleasant to thine eyes?" Luna asked. "Look closer. Thou mayest find, as thine ancient author intended thee to find when he described the Houyhnhnm, that it hath much wrong with it."

Severin turned to her in astonishment.

"We have studied your lore," she said simply.

"So you have. I should have known better. But let me show you something, and you may understand why I speak as I do."

Severin removed his cloak and breastplate, unbuttoned his vest, and pulled his shirt over his head. He was wiry, hardbitten, and pale. He turned his back to her.

"Look," he said. "I don't mean the bruises; one of your own ponies did that, and not on purpose. I mean, look."

Luna did, and she was able with her eyes to trace a series of thick scars crossing each other back and forth over Severin's tautly muscled back.

"Do you see them?" he asked. "The little 'love marks' of my master, Lord Foulsbereth? These were not for punishment, Your Highness, for I did not displease him. Quite the opposite. This is a normal part of the training of a male of my species. As children, we are forced to fight each other, to fight wild animals, to take hard beatings and hard whippings, to suffer cold and heat and fasting. We never feel the warmth of a mother's closeness, though on the cusp of adolescence, the dragons do allow us wenches to sate our appalling appetites. Do you know what a boy raised on nothing but beatings is capable of when he gets his hands on a wench? I won't tell you. But I will tell you that because these are not couplings officially condoned by the dragons' breeding program, we are forced, as a further part of our training, to strangle our own offspring shortly after they are born. The dragons do everything they can to remove from us every last speck of love, of compassion, of pity. And once they have stripped from us the higher sentiments, they seek to remove even the baser ones- every desire for comfort or pleasure- until at last through this rigorous conditioning, we become what they want: puppets, playthings, clockworks made of meat."

Luna remained where she was, lying on the grass with a hoof over her magical cards. Her eyes bored silently into Severin as he spoke.

His muscled stomach rising up and down with his breath, he turned to her with a harsh grin on his face. "They have failed," he said flatly. "And the monsters cannot understand that they have failed." He laughed, and his laugh held in it a slight touch of mania. "Look how they trust me to do their bidding! That everything they have attempted to drive from me might somehow remain does not occur to them. It cannot. Their minds don't work that way. All the things they try to drive out, we learn to bury deep where they cannot see it." He tapped a hand to his breast. "There is something, something here, that Foulsbereth cannot touch, no matter how many beatings he gives me. He could shatter me into a thousand pieces and burn me to ashes, and still he could not touch it."

He sat down cross-legged in front of her. "We have preserved stories, every story we can, and we whisper them to each other in the middle of the night in the blackness of the slave trenches. This is not permitted, but we do it anyway. We save everything we can of the memories of our past, of the time when we were free. We have religions, too. A few of them, even, though the dragons would never allow it if they knew. I admit my own tastes don't run in that direction, but I would appreciate the theological opinion of a living goddess."

"I'm listening," Luna said.

"One of these religions claims the key to eternal happiness is to strip away all desires. It teaches that we are born and reborn many times until we get it right, and when we truly have no desires left, our existence simply and quietly ends. Another, however, teaches not that we should rid ourselves of all desire, but that we should desire the right things, and most of all desire the ultimate good. Furthermore- and this is the amusing part- it claims this ultimate good wants to help us out, that we can pray to it, and at the end of time, it will come down and save us, appearing as- you're going to love it, Luna!- a rider on a white horse! What do you think of that, eh?"

"I think I pity you," said Luna quietly.

"That would be a first for a Houyhnhnm." He rose to his feet, picked up his clothes, and got dressed. "As I said, I am not a religious man. But if I had to choose between the two, I would choose the former rather than the latter. If we humans are to be saved, we must save ourselves. There will be no white horses coming down from the sky to free us."

Luna put away her cards and rose to her hooves. "Come, Severin," she said. "We must return to Ponyville."

**Next: Gathering Shadows**


	8. Chapter 8:  Gathering Shadows

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 8: Gathering Shadows**

Rainbow Dash finished her tax-gathering duties earlier than she expected, and then she took out her anger by building a thunderstorm.

Although they looked simply like ponies with wings, the Pegasi were structurally different from Unicorns or Earth Ponies: they were more avian than mammal. Their bones were pneumatized and reinforced with crisscrossing struts, but extremely dense. The hairs of their coats were not actually hairs at all, but a mix of tiny feathers and down, which provided streamlining and carried insulating oil protecting them against the frigid temperatures at high altitudes. Their lungs had nine air sacs to keep a steady stream of oxygen moving into their systems, and had parabronchi rather than the mammalian alveoli. Their ribs were flexible, so their entire barrels could expand and contract as they breathed. The blood vessels in their brains would not constrict if they hyperventilated, so they could keep their minds sharp no matter how hard they breathed.

Their hooves were different from other ponies' as well. The frog of a Pegasus hoof- that is, the soft part of the hoof behind the wall- contained a sphinctered orifice opening into a spongy cavity that could accumulate or expel water or particulate. By collecting material in her hooves and carefully seeding the atmosphere while accounting for winds, atmospheric pressure, surface heating, and topographic features, a Pegasus could create or manipulate clouds. Hundreds of Pegasi working in concert could control entire weather systems.

But Rainbow, working alone high over the Everfree Forest, was creating a cumulonimbus all by herself, an exceptionally difficult task. She found an updraft of hot air on the east side of a high mountain range and carried fluffy fragments of cumulus to it. Heated by the rising air and partly blocked by the ridges, the cloud tufts merged and rose until they formed a great, seething, billowy column of white. After hours of exhausting work in strong winds, Rainbow was rewarded when the top of the cloud flattened out and stretched into the characteristic anvil shape.

She whooped. "Take that, Granny! Who's lazy now?"

Coasting to the edge of the new cumulonimbus cloud, Rainbow sharply increased her altitude, flying almost straight up along the column. She battled increasingly fierce winds as she gained height. Finally, she reached the anvil top, where the air was so thin that, even with her specialized lungs, she could barely breathe. She banked sharply and inertia slammed her; the wind billowed her cheeks and dug through her coat, striking her skin like a thousand tiny knives. She could feel herself "graying out," but, as she had practiced many times in stunt training, she kept the turn just gradual enough to avoid completely losing consciousness. When she was directly over the center of the cloud, she dove.

She straightened her legs, trying to make herself as long and narrow as possible. Her eyes streamed with tears from the force of the wind, and her body ran with water as droplets from the cloud collected in her coat. She could see nothing inside the cloud but dark gray mist, which turned blinding white whenever lightning crackled. She wasn't worried about the lightning, as she could withstand even a direct blast without serious harm. The real danger was making a blind dive through a cloud formation: if she failed in the maneuver she was attempting, she could slam straight into the deck.

The air before her formed a pressure front, but she poured on more speed, trying to force her way through. Again, she could feel herself graying out, but this time she did nothing to adjust.

The cloud formed a solid wall in front of her. With a snap, it threw her back, tossing her high into the air. She shot straight through the top of the thunderhead, pushing before herself a geyser of cloud that quickly turned to ice in the high atmosphere. She made an arch several miles long, trailing a white stream like smoke.

She blacked out.

When she returned to consciousness, she was in a tailspin. Like any well-trained Pegasus, she knew which way was north even when she was disoriented, but for a few seconds, she couldn't tell which way was up. Finally, she spotted the horizon and began adjusting, using her hooves as breaks by pushing against evaporated water in the air. She attempted to distinguish her exact yaw, roll, and pitch, and then moved hard against the yaw to recover from the spin.

She spun faster. Disoriented from her bout of unconsciousness, she had misidentified an inverted spin as an upright spin and had adjusted incorrectly. As the wind whipped her mane and carried tears from her eyes, as layers of clouds spun by, as the patchwork of farms and fields and forests rose up to meet her, she realized that she was about to crash, and that she was about to die.

She laughed.

Rainbow feared many things: she feared opprobrium, criticism from her peers, anonymity. She feared failing to live up to her own high standards or making mistakes in front of others. She feared missing lunch.

But she knew no fear of death.

In her attempt to recover from the spin, she hadn't noticed where she was, but as she sped toward the ground, she had a moment to recognize Fluttershy's cottage at the edge of the forest, looking like a toy house from a child's playset. Fluttershy herself stood by the chicken coop and stared up with horror on her face. Rainbow was content to make her best friend the last sight she would ever see.

Green grass and moist brown earth rushed toward her. Then she fell into a kaleidoscopic blur of colors and heard the soft rustle of thousands of wings. Something soft and cool surrounded her, her heart became peaceful, and she thought to herself that death was no bad thing after all.

* * *

><p>She came to in a hospital bed. She tried to get up, but couldn't.<p>

Dr. Stable, a bespectacled Earth Pony with a heart monitor for a cutie mark, was examining a set of X-rays hanging over a wall lamp. Rainbow noticed a real heart monitor beeping steadily beside her bed, and as her mind cleared, she realized she had tubes in her nostrils and casts over much of her body.

She laughed again, but weakly this time.

Dr. Stable turned from the X-rays and glared over his glasses. "Miss Dash, I would very much like to see you less often."

"Feeling's mutual, Doc."

"Might I ask what you were attempting when you decided to become intimately acquainted with Miss Fluttershy's front lawn?"

"Sonic Stormboom. Sonic Rainboom in a thundercloud."

"Mm hmm. Would you care to hear first about what you broke, or about what you ruptured?"

"Start with the small injuries and work up to the big ones, Doc. Like a professional beat-down."

"Okay, then. For starters, you scraped your nose."

"You don't have to start that small."

"You also broke six ribs, a femur, and both metacarpals, as well as the ulna of your right wing. You ruptured a posterior thoracic air sac, for which we had to operate. You're lucky you didn't break your neck. By the way, that's the second break in your right wing, Miss Dash. Let me remind you that, according to Cloudsdale's flight regulations, three strikes and you're out: you break that same wing one more time and I have to ground you permanently."

"Yeah, that ain't gonna happen."

"The break?"

"The grounding."

Dr. Stable sighed. "If you were an Earth Pony, you'd be in here for months with these kinds of injuries. But you're a Pegasus, and, I'll admit, a Pegasus in top condition. Nonetheless, you're going to be bedridden for three weeks at least."

Rainbow chuckled again. "Gives me time to read."

"Not likely, unless you've developed an ability to turn pages with something other than your forelegs, which you won't be using for a while."

Rainbow groaned. "Fine! Tell Sassaflash she's acting weather manager until I say otherwise."

"Darn it, Rainbow, I'm a doctor, not a message pony. Oh, but that reminds me- your friends are outside. I'll let you see them for a few minutes."

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy walked in and gathered around the bed, all looking concerned.

"Oh, Rainbow!" Fluttershy said. "I'm so glad I saw you. I had my butterflies catch you, just like they caught me when I fell out of Cloudsdale. They couldn't quite keep you from hitting the ground, though."

"That's not really 'catching,' then, Fluttershy," Rainbow said.

"Did you make a thunderhead all by yourself?" Pinkie cried. "I heard you made a thunderhead all by yourself!"

"Yeah." Rainbow looked away from her.

"That's amazingly terriferific!"

"Pinkie," said Twilight sternly. "Rainbow, you shouldn't try anything so dangerous without somepony to back you up."

"I go it alone," said Rainbow. She turned her face to the side to block out her view of her friends.

Applejack walked around the bed to get back in Rainbow's line of sight. "You ain't sore 'bout what Granny said this mornin', are ya? I'm sorry 'bout that, RD. Sometimes, arguin' with Granny's like beatin' a dead horse."

"That's disgusting," said Twilight. "And grossly inappropriate, considering the circumstances."

"You aren't mad because you kicked a table and broke up Sugarcube Corner, are you?" Pinkie asked.

"Pinkie!" Twilight said.

"I'm not mad at you," said Rainbow, "or Granny. I just wanna be alone right now." She considered making an apology to Pinkie for smashing the counter, but couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

"You're not trying to kick us out so you can read again, are you?" Twilight asked.

"I don't think I can read right now. I just seriously want to be alone."

After a moment of silence, the others walked out and Rainbow sighed. It had been easy to play it cool with the doctor, but she had been afraid she would break down in front of her friends.

This was one of the worst days she'd ever had. She was still angry at Granny Smith, as well as everypony else who'd insulted her over the course of the day. She also felt guilty for the way she'd treated Pinkie, and felt cowardly for failing to apologize when she had the chance. And she was facing three weeks in a hospital bed.

Now that she was alone, she let the tears flow. They ran from her eyes and soaked into the pillow. Rainbow Dash wept easily, though she didn't want anypony to know it.

She started when the door opened again. She tried to wipe her eyes, but she couldn't move her forelegs, which were in suspended casts.

Looking timid, Big Macintosh entered with a bouquet of flowers in his mouth. Wordlessly, he walked to her nightstand and placed the flowers in a vase.

She felt her stomach clench in irritation, and she turned her face away from him. "I'm not really a flower kind of girl, Big Mac."

"Nope," he said in agreement.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the bouquet: he'd brought red roses, orange chrysanthemums, yellow daisies, green carnations, blue tulips, indigo waxflower, and violet bupleurum- all the colors of the rainbow.

She smiled slightly in spite of herself.

"Rainbow Dash?"

When he said her name, she forgot she was trying to hide her tears. She turned her face to him. He had a kerchief draped over one of his front hooves. With it, he dried her cheeks.

"I'm not crying," she said.

"Nope."

"I got pollen in my eyes while flying and it made me tear up."

"Eyup."

"But I'm not crying."

"Nope."

Her tears ran faster, but he kept drying them. It surprised her how gentle he could be with such large hooves, and she was embarrassed and annoyed when the beeping of the bedside heart monitor sped up.

"And I hate you," she said.

"Eyup."

He bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. The heart monitor went crazy.

The rosy-cheeked Nurse Sweetheart burst through the door and shouted, "What is going on in here- ?"

Big Mac quickly snapped his head up.

"Oh, my bad," Sweetheart said. Sheepishly, she slipped back out the door.

After that, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash couldn't quite look each other in the face. Silently, Big Mac stood by the bed while the two of them allowed their eyes to wander anywhere in the room except toward each other. Finally, after a few uncomfortable, silent minutes, Big Mac dipped his head, nickered, and walked out the door, leaving Rainbow confused, with nothing to do but stare up at the ceiling and think about what just happened.

She sighed. "Oh, great. I do not need this."

* * *

><p>Luna never slept, but she did dream.<p>

Unlike her sister, she stayed awake all night. But during the day, even while she was still conscious, her mind slipped for a few hours into an altered state. She couldn't control it, but she could still function when it happened, though it greatly reduced her abilities.

Although she was Princess of the Night and therefore princess of dreams, she didn't like to dream. Her dreams usually called up old, unhappy memories of her crimes and her bitterness as Night Mare Moon. Often, she would see the faces of the children she had murdered on her granite altar. Sometimes, she saw the slavering, wild-eyed Witch-Ponies who had served her, and over whose grotesque rituals she had presided while promising endless revels in an eternal night. Once, she dreamt of the horrifying midnight when she first claimed her dark powers: she sat in the middle of a circle of foal's blood and held between her teeth a dagger with which she carved the names of the lords of hell into her own thigh while angry spirits lusting for her soul gnashed their teeth and attacked her wards, trying but failing to seize her and drag her into Tartarus before she could complete her spell.

But today, she dreamt of that night only a few years earlier when the stars aligned and released her from her ten centuries of imprisonment. Free at last, she had returned to the Earth with her powers sapped, but with just enough energy left for one terrible spell.

She entered by the window and found Celestia lying on a pillow by the fireplace in her chamber, writing a letter. Without turning around, Celestia lowered her quill and raised her head.

"Is it time?" Celestia asked, gazing into the fire.

"It is," Luna answered. "It is time for my revenge."

Luna stomped the floor and a magic circle of cold blue flame appeared in the middle of the room.

"Enter it," Luna said.

Celestia rose to her hooves and, with face serene, turned and stepped into the circle. "How is our mother?" she asked.

"I couldn't quite say. I froze in her cold bosom for a thousand years, turned to stone. That is thy favorite way of dealing with undesirables, is it not, Celestia? Turning them to stone? It surpriseth me that the whole land is not covered in statues after thou hast held the reins of this kingdom for a millennium."

Celestia didn't answer.

"Wilt thou not plead, my sister? Wilt thou not beg me to spare thee?"

"No."

"I think thou shalt." Luna stomped her hoof again, and, with a gasp, Celestia collapsed, one cheek pressed against the floor.

"You cannot win, Luna-"

"Do not call me Luna!" Luna shouted. "That name died long ago. I am Night Mare!"

"You are still my sister-"

"I am thy bane, foal. Hast thou not guessed what I have in store for thee?"

"I have."

"Then why dost thou not tremble?"

"Because I know that, in time, my beloved sister will be mine again. Your banishment is ended, and soon you will return to my friendship."

"Oh, you foal, you damn foal. Dost thou think still, after all this time, that friendship is the most powerful magic?"

"Friendship must cleanse you tonight, Luna. If it does not, this world will lose you forever. Of this I am certain."

"Thou art powerless against me."

"I am. Nonetheless, it is you, not I, who must be saved or damned, Luna. Tonight, you will be freed, or else, be warned, the devils with whom you have trucked have forged a chain in Tartarus for you."

"Silence! Thou hast not Harmony with thee, Celestia, and thou canst not resist my curse, for as thou didst turn great magic on me, I may now turn it on thee. That is cosmic law, and even thou must bow to it."

"I bow. But one greater than I is here. I have found the Mediator."

Luna sucked in her breath. "Impossible! But even if thou sayest true, it matters not unless the Chaoticist is with her, and I know that one is hidden from thy sight."

Celestia smiled and said nothing.

"Enough!" said Luna. "I wax impatient for my vengeance. My hatred for thee doth burn as hot as Tartarus itself, and now thou shalt taste of it." Luna leaned over the magic circle and whispered in Celestia's ear, "I want thee to burn."

Throwing her front hooves into the air, with her horn glowing hot, Luna chanted the most terrible spell she had ever uttered. The blue flames of the circle turned orange and burst upward toward the ceiling. The flames moved inward, and Celestia at last lost her composure and screamed.

In an instant, the fire burned out, leaving nothing but a blackened circle on the marble floor. Celestia was gone.

Luna had cast her sister into the sun.

* * *

><p>The two Pegasus guards flanking Canterlot Castle's high gates bowed low as a contingent of finely dressed Unicorns, glittering with platinum plates and golden rings, approached. The gates opened and the Unicorns marched in with a measured canter. At their head marched Shining Armor, chief prince of the royal family, dressed in polished ceremonial platinum armor that left the shield-shaped cutie mark on his hip exposed for all to see.<p>

When he entered the castle's front hall, a servant unlaced his helmet, pulled it over his horn, and took it from him. He tossed his dark blue mane, took a deep breath, and grinned.

Like all ponies who held the title of prince, Shining Armor was a descendant of Celestia and August Vision. The members of the royal family knew their pedigrees, but to make matters simple, they addressed each other as brother or sister while Celestia called them all nephew or niece, and they called Celestia their Great Granddam. These labels were inaccurate and illogical, but affectionate.

Prince Blueblood, immaculately groomed as always, leaned against a marble pillar in the front hall, holding a nosegay to his muzzle. When Shining Armor and his party entered, Blueblood stuck the flower in the buttonhole of his smoking jacket. "Shining, my brother. How was your little mission for Great Granddam?"

"We've seen neither hide nor hair of whoever is murdering the Unicorns on the frontier," Shining Armor answered. "But you'll be happy to know Las Pegasus and Hoofington are still in good order, and the ponies there are taking matters well, considering."

Blueblood chuckled. "I've lost many a bit in Las Pegasus, so I can't say I'm too fond of it. Ah, but on second thought, the mares there-"

Shining Armor cleared his throat. Leaving his escort to the servants, he walked with Blueblood toward the princesses' audience chamber, his traveler's horseshoes clicking on the smooth floor. "How have you occupied yourself in my absence, Blueblood?"

Blueblood raised an eyebrow and examined one of his own carefully pedicured and unshod front hooves. "Indulging in dissipation, as usual."

"I shouldn't have asked. Does it not bother you that you keep Great Granddam pacing the floor at night?"

"She's immortal. She can afford a little loss of sleep on my account. Besides, I'll have to wait until spring to really make her pace." He laughed. "There's a new lady at court, a certain Upper Crust. But it's fall now, so I have to hold my horses. She's quite the mare, though. I'd put her under lights if I could."

"I know Upper Crust," Shining Armor said with an even tone that couldn't completely disguise his disgust. "She's married."

"That's never stopped me before." Blueblood sighed. "Ah, what is a louche young stallion supposed to do for three seasons out of the year? I've nothing to fill my nights now but rowdy friends and sarsaparilla."

"Whenever I return to Canterlot," said Shining Armor, "I immediately look forward to my next trip out, and I think I at last understand why."

Blueblood shook his head. "It's because you won't stick around for long that your special somepony ran out on you, brother."

"She was never my special somepony, Blueblood. I don't think she knew I existed."

"That's only what you deserve. You're such a strange stallion: you read all those dusty books about chivalry, noble conduct in war, the old court, and all that rot, and you run around pretending to be a knight errant, but when it comes to mares, you're always pining after those mousy, intellectual types."

In spite of himself, a grin spread across Shining Armor's face. "I met a librarian in Hoofington who was quite pretty. She wore horn-rimmed glasses and had a pencil in her mane."

"You're hopeless. Did you even manage to ask her name?"

"I didn't get that far."

"That's what I thought."

"I wrote a poem for her, though," Shining Armor said. He magicked a folded slip of paper out of his armor suit and opened it. "It goes like this-"

"Please, Shining. You could use your poems to torture prisoners, if we had any. Don't torture me."

"Fine. I wasn't going to read it to you anyway. I just brought it out to remind myself of her violet mane and silver coat."

"I'm sure. Why don't you come out with me and the boys tonight? You can drink away your memories of this librarian you never actually met."

"No, thank you."

Blueblood shrugged. "I shall drink for you then. I always do. When I'm deep in my cups, I make sure to have an extra sarsaparilla for my poor, dear Shining Armor, who wastes his life away in abstinence."

"I can enjoy a glass of sarsaparilla as well as the next pony, Blueblood. But I drink in moderation, something of which you've never heard."

"That's not the kind of abstinence I was talking about."

"You're impossible."

They waited at the doors of the audience chamber until a herald announced their presence, and then servants opened the doors and bowed. When the princes entered, Celestia stepped down from her throne and walked across the chamber to nuzzle Shining Armor.

"Shining! So wonderful to see you again. You are too often away."

"Hello, Great Granddam. It is good to see you again, as well. How are things at court?"

"The dragons' ambassador has arrived, Luna is finally adjusting, the sheep are unhappy"- Celestia smiled mischievously- "and Twilight Sparkle is still single."

Shining Armor tried to keep his composure, but blushed anyway.

Celestia spread a wing over him and walked with him back toward the high dais where her throne stood. Two servants stepped out from an inconspicuous doorway behind a tapestry, silently set up a small oaken throne at the foot of Celestia's golden one, and then slipped out of sight.

"Please stay for some time, Shining," Celestia said. "I like to keep all my nephews about me if I can."

"We'll see, Great Granddam. I'm afraid I get restless if I remain in one place for long."

The high doors burst open with a flash of light and several panicked servants, forgetting their manners, ran in, ducking their heads low. Behind them in the doorway, her dark mane waving about her face, stood Luna. She was breathing heavily. Her coat was matted with sweat, and mud covered her silver bell boots and splattered her legs. Her regal black saddle still sat on her back.

Releasing Shining Armor, Celestia turned and walked toward her. "You look ill, sister."

"We just came out of a bad dream, Celestia. Thou knowest that we cannot control them. But it is of no consequence." She trotted into the chamber, walked past Celestia and the princes, and ascended the dais to her silver throne, into which she lowered herself heavily.

"Luna, you've met Shining Armor-"

"We have, briefly," Luna answered. "But we must discuss something, Celestia."

"Shouldn't you be in Ponyville with Ambassador Severin?"

"We shall be there again shortly. Thou art not the only one who can teleport."

"What is it you wish to discuss?"

"War," Luna said.

Shining Armor pricked up his ears. Blueblood, an amused smile spreading over his face, leaned on a pillar and nibbled at the petals of his nosegay.

Celestia slowly walked up the stairs of the dais and took her own throne. "What war?"

"The one we are going to begin with Draconium," Luna said.

"To what end?"

"To free their slaves, Celestia. Art thou aware of the conditions in which the dragons keep them?"

"Luna, Equestria has not fought a war since-"

"We were there. Do not lecture us about it. Our memory is not failing."

"Do not use your royal 'we' with me, Luna."

"Do not lecture me, Celestia."

"I am your elder sister, you've been away for a while, and-"

Luna pounded a hoof against her seat's silver hoofrest. "The dragons have held these slaves for as long as any of us can remember, but their condition is more abject than ever. It shames us that we have not acted before, but we must act now."

Celestia took a deep breath. "Severin. He's been manipulating you. He's crafty, but-"

"Severin hath suggested no war, Celestia. I have."

"What prompted this?"

"I know what it is to be trapped."

Celestia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "So do I, if you recall. And the prison into which you cast me, though my term there was brief, was much harsher than the one into which I cast you."

Blueblood stood straight, walked to Shining Armor, and muttered, "Time for us to bow out and let them talk, brother."

"Stay," Luna boomed. "Ye are of the royal blood, are ye not? Ye shall lead the Equestrian Order when it goeth to war."

"There is no Equestrian Order," Celestia said quietly.

"What?"

"There is no Equestrian Order," Celestia said. "There is only the honor guard. The Pegasi are no longer warriors, and the Unicorns learn no combat spells. You have much to catch up on."

"Then by what means doth Equestria guard her borders?"

"By means of me."

Luna leapt to her hooves and for good measure kicked her silver throne down the marble steps. It tumbled into the fountain at the base of the dais, and water gushed across the floor. "Fie! I should have known! So this is how the Princess of the Day leadeth her people! Peace at all costs!"

"These humans are not ponies," Celestia said. "If they were, I would rush to their rescue and end their enslavement. But they do not seem to chafe under their servitude. They are not like us-"

"Like us?" Luna shouted as she descended the stairs. "Thou and I are not ponies, Celestia! We are descended from the sun and the moon, and the whole of this world is in our care!" She stood in the midst of the audience chamber, fuming. "Perhaps we really have become Houyhnhnm," she muttered. "Peaceful and well ordered, but without compassion."

"This display is unbecoming to a princess," Celestia said quietly. "I will send somepony else to meet Severin in Ponyville. You are dismissed."

Luna tossed her head. "Do not forget that I am coregent, Celestia. Thou art not the boss of me."

Shining Armor cleared his throat. "Great Grand Aunt," he said, "am I to understand that you wish to lead an army against the dragons to free creatures suffering great indignities under their claws?"

"We so wish," she answered.

Shining Armor knelt before her and touched his horn to her hooves. "You shall have my horn, Your Highness. I am at your service."

"Shining!" Celestia cried.

"Art thou knighted?" Luna asked.

"I am, Great Grand Aunt," said Shining Armor, "but you should know that knighthood now is an honorary thing, and no indicator of skill or accomplishment in battle."

"We must start somewhere," Luna answered. "Henceforth, thou art captain of the Division of Knights in the re-established Equestrian Order."

"And I shall serve until death take me or my princess release me. I may not be a warrior, but at my knighting, I took the warrior's oath, and I am a pony who believes in oaths."

Luna turned again to Celestia. "Where is my armor, Celestia?"

Celestia leaned back in her throne and set her chin on one hoof. She waved dismissively at Luna. "In the armory. I kept it preserved for you, though I now regret it."

Luna smiled and turned back to Shining Armor. "Order a servant to bathe us, and then to escort us to the armory and clothe us. From this day forth, we shall not remove our armor until the humans are free."

"If you permit me, Your Highness, I shall accompany you and clothe you myself," Shining Armor answered.

"We permit it, and are honored. Come." Luna swept from the audience chamber, Shining Armor in tow.

After they had left, Blueblood turned to Celestia and said languidly, "Well, that was exciting. Seems Shining Armor has finally found somepony to play his games of gallantry with him."

"Luna is still young," Celestia answered, "and therefore passionate. She will leave this idea behind after a few days."

* * *

><p>As evening arrived and the sun dipped below the horizon, many farmhooves and other blue-collar workers, all of them Earth Ponies, gathered at a seedy little sarsaparilla tavern called the Prancing Pony, where they indulged in their nightly hobby of carousing.<p>

Inside the tavern, Luna's royal guards, Shivers and D'Artagnan, lounged on stools at the bar, wearing their ceremonial armor in a loose and slovenly fashion with half the buckles open. It was plain from the many wary and dirty glares they received that the Earth Ponies didn't much like their company, nor their black wings, their slitted yellow eyes, or their tufted, bat-like ears. Ignoring the stares, Shivers and D'Artagnan drank pints of sarsaparilla and occasionally stuck their tongues on a salt lick they were sharing between them.

Dressed in frills and petticoats, Candy Mane, a light orange pony with a striped pink mane, moved through the crowds of rowdy Earth Ponies, passing out drinks and salt. Candy had never discovered her special talent or earned her cutie mark, and like most such ponies, had ended up in a dead-end job. As a barmare, she had an excuse to wear a long skirt and keep her blank flank covered.

After he had downed five pints, D'Artagnan, now thoroughly root beer-blurred, nudged Shivers, nodded in Candy's direction, and said, "There's a right fine filly. What do you think of her, eh?"

Candy gave him a disdainful glance and then gave him a new tankard of drink. "Keep your hooves to yourselves, boys," she said. "Look but don't touch. I ain't in season for another six months anyways."

D'Artagnan chuckled and wrapped one of his big black wings over her back and withers. "C'mon, sugar. You can still give a stallion a kiss."

"Your breath smells like salt."

"Don't let that bother you."

He leaned toward her, but she pressed him back with a hoof against his mouth. "Listen, slick, you better get this ugly thing off me unless you wanna lose it."

"Leave the girl alone," Shivers said. "We came here to drink."

D'Artagnan slid from his stool and unfolded his second wing. "I demand a little more respect from a Ponyvillain." He tapped a hoof against his breast. "I'm a Canterlot pony. I'm of the royal guard, and I don't take no lip from no Earth Pony."

Candy laughed in his face. "Royal guard? Is that how you try to impress the fillies? You're nothing but a dirty, sodden, sarsaparilla-guzzling freak."

D'Artagnon backhoofed her across the muzzle.

Shivers slid from his stool. "Hey, stow it, mate! We don't want no trouble!"

Rough-looking Earth Pony stallions rose from their seats at a nearby table. "No trouble?" one of them said. "I'm afraid you got trouble, you Pegasus son of a nag."

D'Artagnan grinned at Shivers. "Time to break the place, mate."

Shivers tilted his head and popped his neck. "Why is it when I drink with you, we always end up kicking haunch?"

D'Artagnan reared and brought his front hooves down hard on an Earth Pony's skull. Then he spun and kicked another Earth Pony into a table. Candy screamed and the room erupted into mayhem. Soon, everypony was fighting everypony else.

In the midst of the chaos, Baritone, an unsuccessful tuba player who made most of his bits, and built a lot of muscle, bucking apples as a part-time field hoof at Sweet Apple Acres, found himself with his back to the orange-maned Mr. Breezy, who had lost his Tam o' Shanter in the combat.

"Is that ye, Baritone me boy?" Mr. Breezy called over the din.

Baritone kicked somepony who was swinging a table leg at him and called back, "Sure is, Mr. Breezy."

"Aye, let's find 'em Pegasus laddies an' give 'em a sound drubbin'! We'll teach 'em Canterlot Pegasi t' tussle with farm ponies, now!"

"I'm all in, Mr. Breezy!" Baritone called back. Flank to flank, they kicked, shoved, and bit their way through the fighting Earth Ponies until they came upon D'Artagnan and Shivers in the middle of the room. The two Pegasi were acquitting themselves well, having beat several Earth Ponies into the floor. D'Artagnan wrapped a fetlock over the neck of a helpless stallion named Caramel and thumped him in the face. Spinning on his front legs, Shivers gave anypony who drew too close a powerful double-kick with his rear hooves.

"Ye take th' ugly one!" Mr. Breezy shouted.

"Which one's the ugly one?" Baritone shouted back.

Nostrils flaring and ears laid back, Mr. Breezy leapt into the fray and laid about with his four hooves. He flattened a few unfortunate Earth Ponies, but also cuffed Shivers in the throat. When Shivers went down, Mr. Breezy spun and gave a solid double rear kick to D'Artagnan's right flank, knocking him sideways.

"That'll teach ye t' disrespect Ponyville lassies!" he cried.

Baritone, not to be outdone, picked up a half-full tankard of sarsaparilla from a nearby table, downed it for luck and courage, and then leapt in, landing on D'Artagnan's back. With a whoop, he wrapped one front leg around D'Artagnan's neck and used the other to kick him repeatedly in the ribs.

Desperate to get Baritone off his back, D'Artagnan spread his wings and flapped hard. He rose a few inches from the ground.

While kicking the fallen Shivers in the barrel, Mr. Breezy shouted, "C'mon, Baritone me laddie, make 'im whinny!"

D'Artagnan shot straight into the ceiling, smashing Baritone's back against one of the broad pine rafters. Bleary with pain, Baritone grabbed D'Artagnan's right wing in his teeth and ripped.

D'Artagnan screamed and fell to the floor. A white burst of light hurled Baritone back several feet, where he fell into a butt of sarsaparilla and broke it open, spilling its sticky contents across the floor. When Baritone recovered, he discovered, to his surprise, that he was holding two small, dried bat wings, tied together by a string, in his mouth.

He quickly spat the detestable thing to the floor and shouted, "They're Earth Ponies! Luna's changed them with her black magic!"

Indeed, D'Artagnan now stood in the midst of the wrecked tavern, not only without his wings, but without his bat-like ears or eyes. Since Baritone had torn away his talisman, he looked like nothing but an ordinary Earth Pony.

The bright magical flash had so startled everypony that the fighting had paused. All eyes now stared at D'Artagnan, and all mouths gaped at the sight of him transformed. D'Artagnan ducked his head and ran out the door. Nopony stopped him.

With a whoop, Mr. Breezy tore away Shivers's wings as well. Shivers, too, transformed with a flash into an Earth Pony, and his great wings shrank into a grisly talisman like the one Baritone had ripped from D'Artagnan. The farmhooves, with much derisive laughter, knocked Shivers about and then tossed him with a crash through the front window.

"An' if ye come back, now, we'll horsewhip ye!" Mr. Breezy yelled.

After ridding themselves of the palace guards, the ponies cheered, laughed, gave each other high hooves, and then returned to kicking each other and bashing each other with furniture. Nopony in the Prancing Pony wanted to waste a good bar fight.

**Next: Spike's War**


	9. Chapter 9: Spike's War

Shadow of the Dragon Lords

D. G. D. Davidson

My Little Pony is © 2012 by Hasbro, Inc.

**Chapter 9: Spike's War**

Back when he lived in Canterlot, Spike had two major tasks. First, he was the personal assistant of Twilight Sparkle. Second, he had a duty that earned him the derisive nickname of "harem guard" from the school's few male students and the nickname "Casanova" from the longsuffering Twilight.

Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was old, like the princess herself, and therefore retained certain eccentric vestiges of its early days. Among them was the Box Stall, a large, elaborate facility built at a time when male and female students were strictly segregated. The Box Stall, in keeping with tradition, still admitted only females. Exactly one male, the house steward, could go inside.

Formerly, the house steward was, like many important officials in Canterlot, a gelding, but Celestia had outlawed the castration of colts several hundred years before, though memories of the practice remained. The majordomo of the palace, for example, held the title of chief gelding, though he was not gelded, and the steward of the Box Stall was still male, but to prevent any shenanigans, a pony no longer filled his office. With the banning of gelding, the position of steward fell to Canterlot's draconic hostage.

The day before Twilight took him unexpectedly from the capitol, Spike pushed through the revolving door of the Box Stall in the early afternoon, as usual, to begin his chores. Although being steward meant having almost no free time, Spike enjoyed the job immensely.

"Ah," he whispered to himself as he entered, "Unicorn fillies."

The interior of the Box Stall was a single large room sweltering under an enormous skylight. Taking up most of the house was a large pool in which several Unicorns were swimming. A few lounged in a nearby hot tub. Overhead, on a suspended trotting track, some of the girls strutted briskly for their afternoon workouts. Others used the House's exercise equipment. Some lay on plush velvet couches and read or napped.

When Spike walked in, a bespectacled, cream-colored filly named Whistle Down looked up from her book and rattled an empty plastic cup at him. "Hey, house boy," she said, "go get me another hay and carrot smoothie."

"Right away," Spike answered, taking her cup and jogging to the concession stand.

After he brought Whistle Down her drink, Spicy Sauce whistled for him from the weight-lifting area where she was performing tail curls. "Hey, house boy!" she yelled. "Come spot me!"

Spike joined her and counted out her reps. When she finished, he complimented her on her form.

"Don't get cheeky," she answered, giving his head a rough but affectionate pat.

"House boy!" Rosy Dawn called from the other side of the pool. "Yoo-hoo, house boy!"

Spike ran over to find the dusky pink pony lying languidly beside the pool, one hoof dangling in the water.

"Fan me," she said.

He pulled an ostrich feather from a nearby rack and proceeded to do as she asked.

He stopped, however, when another voice sailed across the room. "Spike! Spike, where are you?"

Spike tossed the feather aside and sprinted toward the pony calling him.

"Hey!" Rosy Dawn yelled. "That was too quick! And don't run by the pool!"

Spike's heart thumped painfully in his chest as he approached. It was his beloved Moondancer, languishing on a beach towel under a UV heat lamp, which made her white coat unbearably bright. She lay on her side with one hind leg thrown casually forward. The moon-and-star cutie mark glistened on her hip.

Nervously rubbing his claws together, Spike struggled to avoid hyperventilating as he asked, "W-what can I do for you, M-Moondancer, my sweet?"

She slid her dark sunglasses down her muzzle and gazed at him with shiny violet eyes as she held out a bottle. "I need you to rub cocoa butter into my coat."

Spike gulped.

* * *

><p>As the sun lowered, Spike knelt in the middle of the library, held his pet baby phoenix Peewee in his arms, and wept.<p>

That morning, Severin had sat across from him and said many strange and confusing things while Luna silently paced the room, her sharp eyes watching everything. Every word of Severin's was like a weight dropping onto Spike's heart, and the words piled up until he thought Severin would crush him. Luna at last spared him by inviting Severin to take a ride, leaving Spike alone to brood.

Spike didn't want to brood. He wanted to forget everything the ambassador had told him about the hellish homeland of the Earth Dragons, about the human slaves who crouched and quivered in their own filth and scraped before their reptilian masters, about the gaunt, pale virgins whom the dragons collected in the same way they collected gold and jewels, and about the cold and unemotional minds of the corpulent dragon lords who sat at the high stone table on a crag of the live volcano around which the cavernous buildings of Draconium's black capitol clustered.

Spike wanted to forget that his father was Lord Foulsbereth, who sat in the chief seat at the table, a seat to which Spike was heir. Severin told him repeatedly that it was his destiny to hoard things that did not belong to him and grow huge until he became the enemy of the ponies, and then they would ship him in a cage to his homeland, where his mind would return. He would become as compassionless as his father, and would grow massive and grotesque over several centuries as he lay atop a heap of gold, devoured jewels, and collected the virgins who would groom him and attend to his every whim.

* * *

><p>Less than a year ago, he had begun to grow just as Severin described, and Canterlot had sent the Wonderbolts to capture him and send him home. They failed.<p>

Even though, as he grew larger and larger, he stole everything he could put his greedy claws on, he really wanted only one thing, and because he had gained so much in size, he could finally have her: Rarity.

He had felt so powerful as he climbed over the hard, sharp rocks and saw all of Ponyville spread below him. He could still remember how soft and warm Rarity's coat had felt as he wrapped her in his tail. At last, she would be his forever, and he would share her with nopony. He would force her to find him jewels to eat, to groom his scales, and, of course, to lounge in his cave in decorative poses- for dragons, heartless and selfish though they were, had a keen if peculiar aesthetic sense.

But Severin was clearly wrong about one thing: it was possible for Spike to resist the hoarding impulse. He had done so; in the end, Rarity had touched his heart and reminded him of who he was. His love for her had overcome his covetous desire for her. He had been willing to let her go.

But that meant he was a baby, and would be forever.

As Severin talked, Spike remembered, too, the time he had attempted to join the great dragon migration. Those dragons had been wild, unruly, and harsh, different from the wingless Earth Dragons who ruled in Draconium. Spike had for a time considered remaining with those wild dragons, but in the end he went back to Ponyville. He didn't go home because he wanted to serve any political needs, about which he was, at that time, unaware. He went home because he wanted to be a pony.

"Severin," he said, interrupting the ambassador's lengthy spiel on the finer points of Draconic culture.

"Master," Severin answered, "I must ask you again not to address me by my-"

"Severin, I'm not really a dragon."

"Don't be foolish. Of course you are."

"What I am is not the same as who I am."

"That's gibberish, obviously. Who you are is dependent on what you are, and you are a dragon. You can't make yourself a tree or a bird- or a pony- simply by wanting it. Free will does not imply omnipotence, and wishing does not make it so." He turned to Luna, who was still pacing the room and watching. "Your Highness, I know you've studied philosophy. Can you explain this?"

The princess shook her head. "We are embarrassed to admit that, upon returning to our kingdom from our long exile, we discovered that modern ponies receive no education in metaphysics, Severin. Thou canst not appeal to Spike's knowledge of the problem of universals, nor of the four causes, nor of teleology, for I fear he hath none."

"Ah. Would you be so kind as to see to that gap in his knowledge after I leave?"

"We shall."

"What I mean," Spike said, "is that I may really be an Earth Dragon, but I don't want to be greedy, I don't want to steal stuff, and I don't want to have slaves."

"Don't worry," Severin said, "you will. I already told you that."

"And I'm telling you I won't!" Spike jumped to his feet and glared at Severin, who merely interlaced his fingers and gazed back with a smug smile on his face.

* * *

><p>In the dark, Spike let go of Peewee, pressed his forehead against the floor, and clenched his claws into fists. He wanted to grow up, but he didn't want to grow up <span>that way<span>. Yet he knew that neither Rarity nor Moondancer could ever really love him if he spent the rest of his life in infancy.

At the same time, he could feel the desire to have, to take, the same desire he had felt after his first birthday in Ponyville, sitting like a dagger in his heart, threatening to overwhelm him, to destroy him. If he simply gave in to it and let himself become a monster again, neither Rarity nor Moondancer could say no to him. He could simply take them and have them both forever. To remain a baby forever meant giving up everything he wanted. It was a constant battle within him, a battle that, as time went on, he was less inclined to continue fighting.

* * *

><p>After Luna and Severin left, Spike wandered out of the library and walked around town in a daze. The air was dry and cool, and an occasional sharp breeze reminded him that the Running of the Leaves would take place in a few days.<p>

He met Rarity, who was out shopping. So absorbed was she in the rolls of fabric she had purchased at the open-air market, she didn't notice Spike's low mood, but did order him to carry her bags for her. Ordinarily, he jumped at the opportunity to do Rarity any favors, but his heart wasn't in it today.

"Oh, I wish you'd told me you were somepony so important, my little Spikey-wikey," Rarity chattered as she window-shopped on the way back to her boutique. "And the ambassador came much too suddenly. I should have made a new dress for the occasion. Ooh! And a cute little suit for you, of course. But goodness, having him just arrive like that! Why, I hadn't even shaved my fetlocks, I had simply nothing to wear, and, goodness, I haven't had my teeth floated in ages. I must have looked an absolute fright. That's no way to impress a prestigious politician, you know."

"Yeah," said Spike, not really listening.

Rarity stopped talking. The bags he held were blocking his face, so he couldn't see her. He kept his eyes on the ground; much as usually liked spending time with Rarity, he found himself wanting to get away from her.

She magicked the bags out of his claws and pressed her front hooves against his cheeks. "Oh, Spike, are you upset about something?"

"Rarity, don't!" He backed away from her.

She frowned.

Moondancer, apparently out for a walk, rounded a corner and stopped when she saw Spike and Rarity. Spike's heart sank. He didn't want to spend time with either Rarity or Moondancer right now, and he certainly didn't want to spend time with both of them together.

The easy grin on Moondancer's face grew larger, and she tossed her head as she trotted over. "Hello, Spike. I feel like I've barely seen you since I've been in town."

"Well, you've only been here since last night," Spike said.

"True enough." Her smile disappeared for a moment as she tapped her horn, which the dingy gray magical shield still enwrapped. "I was really hoping I could find Princess Luna and get her to take this off. It's difficult to function without magic."

"You and Spike must have been friends in Canterlot," Rarity said. "Spikey-wikey, aren't you going to introduce me?"

"What did you call him?" Moondancer asked.

Spike swallowed. He looked back and forth between the two Unicorn Ponies. Their manes were different colors, Moondancer slouched while Rarity stood straight, and Rarity had perfect conformation while Moondancer was slightly over at the knees, but otherwise they looked a great deal alike. "Uh . . . Rarity, this is Moondancer. Like you said, we were friends-"

"Oh, Spike, I always thought of us as more than just friends," said Moondancer, giving him a wink.

Spike felt heat creep into his face.

"I agree," Rarity said. "He's so helpful. Sometimes I tell Twilight I'm so jealous that she has such a wonderful and kee-yewt assistant." She rubbed his head.

Moondancer frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Yes. I can relate. But I hardly think cute is the right word."

Startled out of his melancholy, Spike gazed up at her. "You don't?"

"Of course not. You're a dragon. Dragons are fierce, powerful."

"Sometimes I don't feel very fierce or powerful," Spike mumbled, walking away.

"You shouldn't," Moondancer answered as she and Rarity followed, trotting alongside him. "You're a baby dragon," aren't you?"

"Sounds like it."

"Well, someday soon, you'll grow up. You'll be plenty fierce then."

"Oh, good Celestia, no," Rarity said. "And ruin his adorable little baby face?" She reached for his cheeks again.

"Rarity, cut it out." He brushed her hooves away.

"Why don't you leave him alone?" Moondancer snapped.

"Leave him alone? But I was just-"

"You were just treating him like a baby, and it's obvious he doesn't like it."

"But he is a baby. You said so yourself."

"Yes, technically, but dragons don't age like ponies, now do they? Get all gooey on him and the poor thing will stay a baby forever." She gave Spike a gentle nudge with a knee. "I always thought you acted quite mature, Spike."

"Oh," he said, blinking, dazed. "Did you?"

She leaned down and whispered, "You couldn't tell?"

He felt his face growing hot again.

Rarity's mouth hung open for a moment. "Well, I never," she said when she recovered, sticking her muzzle in the air.

"I'm sure," Moondancer answered. "I'm sure you never. Come along, Spike."

"But-" Spike started to protest, but in the end followed Moondancer, leaving Rarity behind.

* * *

><p>When they rounded a corner into an alley, Moondancer looked right and left, and then she planted a kiss full on his lips.<p>

Spike felt his face grow hot again, and then the rest of him followed. His heartbeat echoed in his ears, and his head lightened, as if had downed a full mug of strong sarsaparilla.

Moondancer pulled away, but then nuzzled his cheek. "Grow up quick," she breathed in his ear. Then she galloped away.

Spike leaned against a wall to catch his breath and let his heart slow. He looked up, and his stomach sank into his knees: Rarity stood at the opening of the alleyway, a look of disgust on her face. She turned from him with a snap of her head, lifted her muzzle into the air, and walked off.

Spike slid down the wall and buried his face in his claws.

* * *

><p>Border towns as a rule had few Unicorns to begin with; generally, Earth Ponies were more inclined than either Unicorns or Pegasi both to exploration and to hard work. Due to the recent string of grisly murders, the few Unicorns who lived in the wilder places were moving to the urban centers, leaving the settlers without any magical aids.<p>

Fireflight was a white Pegasus, a royal guard from Canterlot Castle, and he had the unenviable duty of overseeing the hunt for the killers. He had spent the last week in the desert town of Appleloosa, which was blistering hot even in late fall. He sweltered in his ceremonial armor and dreamt of the day he could return to the capitol and take a proper bath.

He had spent the last week assisting Sheriff Silver Star and the recently deputized Braeburn in their investigations. In the process, Fireflight had concluded that Silver Star and Braeburn were uneducable hicks from the sticks, and Silver Star and Braeburn had simultaneously concluded that Fireflight was an insufferable city slicker.

The three of them now trotted through miles of hot sand on the way to the buffalo camp. Braeburn and Silver Star were properly shod for the journey and were accustomed to long walks. Fireflight was exhausted, and he kept getting sand in his platinum bell boots, which were chafing his coronets. He would have simply flown, but his armor was heavy.

They stopped to rest in a narrow canyon where they could share a patch of shade under an overhang of sandstone. Braeburn took a knife in his teeth, stripped the needles and skin from a prickly pear, and ate. Fireflight pulled a canteen and a portable salt lick from his saddlebags and tried to replace some of the fluid he was losing in his constant stream of sweat. Silver Star lit a cigar.

Fireflight scrambled to his hooves when he saw two bulky figures standing on a ledge over the end of the canyon. Wavering in the heat rising from the rocks, the figures gazed solemnly down at the ponies and then silently disappeared.

Silver Star stubbed out his cigar. "That's th' signal, I reckon. Let's go, boys."

The canyon ended in a collapsed slope of boulders. The ponies scrambled up to the top and found a knot of buffalo waiting for them, including Chief Thunderhooves, wearing his regal headdress of eagle feathers, and the young Little Strongheart.

Braeburn leaned toward Fireflight and whispered, "Listen, compadre, ya wanna be real respectful when talkin' t' buffalo. Jist let me an' the sheriff-"

Fireflight cut him off. "I have taken many courses on the proper ways to communicate with the more primitive species, Braeburn. Leave this to me."

"But-"

Fireflight cantered up to the buffalo, cleared his throat, and raised his right foreleg. "How. Me Fireflight. Me servant of Great White Pony. Great White Pony is heap big mucky-muck, have-em big medicine, make-em sun move in sky."

Thunderhooves turned to Braeburn and Silver Star and asked in his slow, deep voice, "Who is this imbecile?"

"He's from Canterlot and serves Princess Celestia," Braeburn said.

"Well, why did he not say so? I cannot understand a word of his nonsense. Now, what is this I hear about murderers?"

"Somepony's killin' Unicorn Ponies, and we need trackers," Silver Star said.

Thunderhooves tilted his head toward Little Strongheart. "She is the best tracker among the buffalo."

Silver Star swallowed. "Uh, y'all wanna send a filly? We have to deal with some things that ain't so nice."

"I can handle it," Little Strongheart said.

Braeburn and Silver Star glanced at each other. Silver Star shrugged.

Little Strongheart poked Fireflight in the side. "Come on, heap big imbecile, let's go find these killers of yours."

* * *

><p>They stood in a small box canyon. After they drove off the buzzards, all was silent except the droning of flies over what remained of the three Unicorn corpses. Fireflight, a hint of green having entered his face, held a perfumed kerchief to his muzzle.<p>

"We didn't move anything," Silver Star explained. "Didn't want to mess up your work."

Little Strongheart calmly walked around the bodies. They were bruised and battered, having apparently been in a terrific struggle, but the only mortal marks on them were on their heads, where their horns had been torn away, exposing the red insides of their skulls, at which the buzzards had been picking, and over which the flies now crawled in seething masses.

"Tell me about Unicorns," Little Strongheart said as she moved her eyes carefully over the bodies.

"Well," Braeburn said, "they got magic powers. What else you wanna know?"

"Everything. Why would somebison take their horns?"

"That's the source o' their magic, but that's about all we can tell ya. Nopony really understands Unicorn magic or where it comes from . . . Oh, their horns are hard, too. Nothin' can cut 'em, 'cept diamond. Some o' th' fancy-shmancy ones polish their horns with diamond files."

"The killers cut around the horns," Little Strongheart said. "And it looks like they did it while the Unicorns were still alive."

"We know all this!" cried Fireflight.

Little Strongheart pointed to the deep cuts in the dead ponies' fetlocks, which were tied together with ropes. "They struggled really hard," she said.

"Can you find the killers?" Fireflight shouted. "Useless settler ponies, useless buffalo! Did we march all the way out there and back to hear things we already know?"

"Fireflight," Silver Star said quietly, "I'd kindly ask ya t' shutcher yap 'fore I shut if for ya."

"There are drops of blood on the ground to the southeast," Little Strongheart said, "and the sand is disturbed. The killers walked that way. There were at least four of them, and they bent this grass as they passed." Keeping her eyes low to the ground, she followed the trail. "They brushed their tracks as they went."

"Maybe tied branches to their tails," Silver Star suggested. "That'd do it."

"These weren't ponies. Or buffalo," Little Strongheart said. She ran up to the open end of the canyon, watching the displacement of rocks, the broken leaves of grass, the disturbances in the sand. When she reached the end of the canyon, she stared out over the broad desert. The small, dusty town of Appleloosa nestled to the south. Sand dunes and broken boulders stretched to the east. To the north were steep mountains full of caves.

She looked back over her shoulder. "It's the way they move," she said. "They walk very strangely, and they only have two legs."

"Minotaurs, maybe," Braeburn suggested. "Or satyrs. They can both be pretty vicious."

"Could be satyrs," Little Strongheart said, "but they weren't heavy enough to be minotaurs."

After the ponies joined Little Strongheart at the mouth of the canyon, she pointed to the mountains. "They went there."

Silver Star nodded. "I'll round up a posse. Think you can take us straight to their hideout?"

"Probably, but I can't guarantee they'll still be there."

"Let's go, then," said Fireflight. "At last we're getting somewhere."

Braeburn shook his head and spat into the sand. "You three go. Somepony needs to bury the dead."

* * *

><p>Night had come, and the moon was high when Twilight Sparkle at last walked through the door of the library. She had been out all day, unsure when she was welcome to return, and hoping to avoid further encounters with Moondancer. She crept in as quietly as she could; because the lights were out, she had assumed Spike and the ambassador were in bed. She was surprised to find Spike sitting in the middle of the floor, holding Peewee.<p>

"Spike?"

He looked up and snuffled. "Twilight?" She couldn't see his face clearly in the gloom, but the stuffy sound of his voice suggested he had been weeping.

"Where's the ambassador?"

"I don't know. He left with Luna, and they haven't come back yet."

She slowly walked toward him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't sound like nothing."

He looked down and petted the baby phoenix. "Have you ever wanted things you know you can't have?"

"Of course. Everypony has."

"Have you ever wanted a bunch of things that you can't have at the same time?"

"Well, I don't know about a bunch . . . I've simultaneously wanted an ice cream sundae, and to stay thin. Does that count?"

"I want to grow up," he said, "but I don't want to take things that aren't mine. I want to meet my parents, but I don't want to be a dragon lord."

Twilight drew closer; Spike looked up at her, and she could see tears running down his cheeks.

"I wanted to find out who I really was," he said, "but I didn't want to find out I was an Earth Dragon from Draconium."

"Oh, Spike."

He set Peewee down and ran to her. She wrapped her front legs around him and held him as he sobbed.

"Why didn't Celestia tell us?" he cried.

"She meant to, Spike. She said so. But she wanted us to grow up first- both of us- before we had to deal with it. And she did tell us, remember? After the dragon migration, when she got your letter? She called us to Canterlot to tell us where you were from, and she gave me the Encyclopaedia Draconica-"

"I wish she'd told me before. But I also wish I'd never found out."

"I'm sorry, Spike. You can't choose what you are or where you're from, but you can choose what to do with it."

"Can I? Am I going to be a baby forever?"

"I don't know."

He clenched his claws in the fur of her neck. "I don't want to be what I am, and I don't want to be from where I'm from."

Twilight said nothing.

"I wish I were a pony," Spike whispered.

She thought silently for a long minute before she answered.

"I . . . I wish you were, too." She bit her lip, swallowed, and added, "So you could be here with me forever."

She looked down at him. His slit pupils reflected a white glint of light. His arms clutched her neck, and his claws tangled in her mane. Under the pressure of his grasp, she slowly lowered her face toward his. She could hear the rate of his breathing increase slightly, and he swallowed. His eyes still looked into hers. His breath smelled like sulfur. She heard her own heartbeat thudding in her ears.

Suddenly, Twilight pulled away and rose to her hooves. "This isn't right," she said. She walked away from him, shaking her head. "I've barely slept in the last two days. I need to get to bed." She glanced over her shoulder. "You should get to bed, too, Spike."

She walked up the stairs to the bedroom, leaving Spike alone.

* * *

><p>Again, Spike held his face in his claws and cried.<p>

**Next: Severin's Heroes**


End file.
